REGINA, Canada—Chris Matravolgyi described the Shen Yun Performing Arts show he saw at Regina’s Conexus Arts Centre on Saturday evening as “fabulous.”
“I love Chinese art, I’ve taken martial arts. I love Chinese culture so it’s just amazing to watch,” said Mr. Matravolgyi, who owns a housing exterior business.
“I grew up dancing so I really like it. The costumes are beautiful and it’s great entertainment,” said his wife Kristen Matravolgyi, an x-ray technician.
Ms. Matravolgyi said she particularly enjoyed Flowing Silk, a piece in which long, flowing sleeves, called “water sleeves” in classical Chinese dance, conjure an image of rippling water.
“I liked the one in the village about the angry tiger,” said her husband, referring to Wu Song Battles the Tiger, a story-based dance taken from Outlaws of the Marsh, one of China’s most beloved novels.
“I love Chinese art,” he said. “I’ve been in China before so this is very interesting for me to watch.”
He added that he appreciated how the music highlighted the movements of the dancers.
“The music—it works in perfectly, it really accentuates the dance really well. The way some of the notes ... it just makes it very serious or very playful, it works really well with how they play the artistry.”
Both were impressed by the unique animated backdrops.
“I thought the best one was neat when it actually had characters coming down and then all of a sudden actual dancers came out on top of the steps—that was really neat when it was the monks and then the female dancers came afterwards,” Mr. Matravolgyi.
Classical Chinese dance, an ancient art form, is at the core of the Shen Yun performances. Chinese dance has been evolving for 5,000 years and is currently enjoying a worldwide renaissance thanks to Shen Yun, a New York-based group of mostly ethnic Chinese artists.
“I’ve seen Chinese dancing before, but nothing like this. This is very well done,” said Mr. Matravolgyi.
With reporting by Li Mei.
For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
