Shen Yun ‘A high art form,’ Says Longtime Investment Executive

Mr. Oliver with his wife at the Friday evening performance. (The Epoch Times)

TORONTO—Shen Yun gave a “magnificent performance” that left the audience with “an elevated feeling,” says a long-serving executive of several major securities and investment organizations in Canada and internationally.

Mr. Oliver, who is now a candidate for public office, attended the opening night show at the Canon Theatre in Toronto on Friday night and addressed a VIP crowd at a reception after the show.

“This has been a remarkable evening for me—the music, the choreography, the blending of the theme of compassion, kindness, and courage in the dance, in the execution of the stories.

“I can’t exactly articulate it except to say that one has an elevated feeling from having experienced the theme in such an absolutely gorgeous artistic setting.”

Mr. Oliver has seen Chinese dance before. “But I have never seen it done with such precision, sophistication and grace as I have here,” he said. “It’s quite remarkable and inspiring.”

“This is really remarkable in its sophistication, in its beauty, in its performance. The technical adroitness of the dancers is absolutely perfect, but really it goes beyond that; it goes to an energy and a spirit that of course elevates performance to a high art form.”

Mr. Oliver said emotion was conveyed through “a beauty of the dance and the singing and the athleticism and the precision of the dances.”

He described the performance as a “totality.”

“The music and the dance and the choreography and background were all integrated to achieve a certain emotional impact,” he said.

Mr. Oliver discussed how the ancient Chinese values expressed in the performance provide guidance still today.

“You know we all confront the challenges and the opportunities of modernity, but we have to draw from the rich experience, the ancestral experience we all have from different cultures. And there is no cultural experience as long as the Chinese cultural experience, some five millennia.”

“I really enjoyed it,” he said. “I am an enthusiast. I will be back.”

Shen Yun Performing Arts will wrap up its four-show run at Toronto’s historic Canon Theatre on Sunday.

  For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org