VANCOUVER—“Absolutely phenomenal” was how nurse educator Helena Pavinen described the Shen Yun Performing Arts show she attended at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Thursday night.
“I loved it. I loved all the acrobatics and beauty and form and grace, the control and the strength, the power of performers—absolutely wonderful,” said Ms. Pavinen, a professor of nursing in mental health and addictions at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, B.C.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen this and I would highly recommend for anybody to come to see it. It was magnificent, absolutely magnificent.”
In presenting China’s traditional cultural heritage through music, song, and dance, Shen Yun presents large-scale dance pieces that involve many dancers.
Ms. Pavinen said she was impressed by the dancers’ ability to work together as a team.
‘They] were all able to bring alive the stories, and I felt engrossed in everything that they were sharing with us. It was absolutely phenomenal.”
She also loved the music produced by Shen Yun’s orchestra, which is unique in that it blends Western and Chinese instruments, such as the pipa and two-stringed erhu.
“The music was wonderful. It was in enrapturing. It was catchy and it was lively and upbeat,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Shen Yun’s unique digital backdrops, which are animated to enhance the piece being played out on stage, were also a hit.
“That was wonderful. I really liked that. The way that they incorporated the video with people coming from the screen onto the stage—that was wonderful, what a nice touch.”
Ms. Lavinen said she liked the costumes and their flowing materials, as in Sewing the Flowers of Heaven and “Phoenix Fairies.”
“It was so mystical. … It was absolutely wonderful.”
She said the performance overall left her with a feeling of euphoria and made her want to dance.
“Euphoric, absolutely euphoric,” she said.“I want to dance and I’m not a dancer. I want to go out and dance and I’m not a dancer.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Joan Delaney.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s Touring Company will play five shows in Vancouver Jan. 10-13, while the New York Company will complete its tour of eastern Canada with five shows in Toronto Jan. 17–20. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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