LAS VEGAS—Lisa Tenner, president of marketing firm Tenner and Associates and a former ballerina, and her husband Mark Tenner, who is involved in the online gaming industry, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Reynolds Hall in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts on March 16.
“This is unique,” said Mrs. Tenner. “Lovely to watch.”
Mrs. Tenner was an accomplished ballerina as a child, dancing annually with the New York City ballet before the age of 18. Later she went into business management, managing different entertainment companies, events, and successful rock bands. She is now the president of Tenner and Associates, one of the country’s premier event production and consulting companies.
New York-based Shen Yun was founded in 2006 with the mission “to revive the true, divinely inspired culture of China and share it with the world,” according to the company’s website.
“A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops—together creating one spectacular performance,” says the website.
“I’m enjoying it,” said Mr. Tenner. “It’s very different ... I particularly enjoy how light on their feet all of the dancers are—very smooth and wispy.”
As a former dancer, Mrs. Tenner was also pleased with Shen Yun’s dancers. “I can appreciate their fluidity,” she said. “The women are extremely beautiful, and there’s no body fat on them. They are so light!”
Shen Yun’s beautiful handmade costumes were very impressive to Mrs. Tenner. “I think the costumes are one of the more outstanding features of the show. The color, the way it’s presented. There is a lot of production money put into the show, you can tell.”
Mrs. Tenner said she appreciated that the performance included narrators who introduced each dance number in both English and Chinese. She also liked that the digitally projected background interacted with the dancers.
Mr. Tenner especially enjoyed the live orchestra and the musical arrangements. “I think the music is beautiful, and it’s very complementary with the dance.” The couple are big fans of fine performing arts, music, and theatre, he said.
Since Shen Yun was sold out in Los Angeles in January, Mrs. Tenner said she bought the Shen Yun tickets in Las Vegas. She said to her husband, “We should go see this because this is probably something we'll never see, ever.”
Mr. Tenner said he felt the performance went by too fast, and he wished it could have been longer to incorporate more stories from the 5,000 years of Chinese history.
“If you appreciate the arts then you'll appreciate how talented these people are,” said Mrs. Tenner.
Reporting by Lu Rusong and Sarah Le.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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