CHICAGO—In the Windy City at the Civic Opera House, Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company put on its second of five shows. Tonight’s show was greeted by a warm audience with generous applause, smiles and tears.
Olga Machrone, contracts manager at Fluor Corporation, saw the show and said, “I have never felt so submerged into Chinese culture, I think it’s pretty amazing very beautiful.”
Ms. Machrone said she was surprised to learn that classical Chinese dance had had such an influence, not only on modern dance forms but also acrobatics and martial arts.
“I think the overall level of the dancers is just spectacular. I think it’s amazing and the voices are beautiful as well,” she said.
Shen Yun’s award winning opera singers perform piano-accompanied solos, interpretation aided by lyrics which are projected in Chinese and English on a digital backdrop.
“I think that the voices of the soprano and the tenor … were pretty amazing. It was beautiful and the words were very touching in those songs,” she said.
Ms. Machrone commented on the overall beauty of the show, particularly the Shen Yun hand-made costumes.
“The costumes are very, very beautiful,” she said, “They’re very colorful and it was also amazing, the amount of detail that you can see in the costumes.”
According to the Shen Yun website, Shen Yun is “a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from the five millennia of Chinese civilization.”
Ms. Machrone said Shen Yun had made her think about her values too.
“I think the message that was in those songs was just basically to be kind to all the people, be kind to humankind and think about how you impact the environment, how you impact humanity and people around you,” she said.
Reporting by Yue Su and Andrew Darin.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world, with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will perform in Chicago through April 22.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
