BRISBANE, Australia—Jacqueline and Jeffrey Kelly said Shen Yun Performing Arts’ show in Brisbane on Feb. 2 made their evening.
The retired couple run a private hotel in Scotland. They were in Brisbane on vacation, where they booked to see the Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company’s Saturday night show at the Lyric Theatre.
“We love it,” Mrs. Kelly said after the show. “This evening’s just been wonderful.”
Shen Yun uses the universal language of dance and music to revive 5,000 years of Chinese culture through a tapestry of classical Chinese dance, ancient legends, and heroic modern-day epics, according to the company’s website.
Performers dance in front of stunning digital backdrops to the music of a live orchestra. The Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company is one of three Shen Yun companies touring the world simultaneously.
Mrs. Kelly said she once taught Scottish country dancing to children, but Shen Yun’s dancing was very different.
“The ladies are so elegant,” Mrs. Kelly said. “It is fluent, it is just wonderful.”
Mr. Kelly said he liked the dances that told a story, and also the orchestra, which blends both Chinese and Western instruments.
“It’s the storytelling,” he said. “And what I like is the amalgamation of Western styles and classical Chinese music, and elegance of the ladies.”
It’s very moving! It’s very elegant, and it’s charming.”
‘So much to learn’
Also impressed by the show was Beau Hartnett, a lawyer, who was accompanied by his wife.
Various friends had recommended the performance to Mr. Hartnett, who thought it was “fantastic,” adding that he was struck by “the colour, the vibrancy, the dance–the technical expertise of the dancers.”
Mr. Hartnett also enjoyed the way the dances are used for storytelling, and learning more about Chinese culture.
“That there is so much to learn,” he continued. “And that’s what I think we don’t really appreciate in Australia–just how diverse, and how much the Chinese culture has to offer us. In particular, I want to enjoy a tea in Mongolia, I think!”
Reporting by NTD Television and Ethan Yang.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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