DETROIT—“I was very impressed with the costumes,” said dressmaker, Colleen Eldracher after seeing the costuming of the dancers in Shen Yun Performing Arts’ performance, on Feb. 7, at the Detroit Opera House.
Colleen Eldracher is a dressmaker and designer who runs her own dressmaking business.
“I’ve seen some traditional Japanese dance and this was—it was much more acrobatic but in a way the costumes were similar yet different. They were beautiful,” she commented.
The term acrobatic refers to the aerial flips, spins and leaps which are all part of the classical Chinese dance. Actually, acrobatics emerged from this dance system, as the company’s website explains.
Ms. Eldracher couldn’t decide which of the costumes was her favorite. “I think I liked them all,” she said. “What struck me the most was how they use the color combinations.”
She further explained, “They aren’t the color combinations that we would see in American clothing. They‘ll put the pinks with the greens and the lavender, but then they’ll have a kick of red in it with gold. And it’s just really, really—it’s unique and it’s beautiful.”
“To some extent,” she said she would incorporate ideas from Shen Yun into her own designing. “I love how some of the colors will spectra-fade, they'll go from a dark to white. Just very, very pretty.”
About the whole experience, she said: “It was really impressive. I just felt it was really cool. I felt like grinning a lot—just like grinning a lot though the whole sequence.”
“It’s beautiful and I enjoy that kind of stuff. ... Especially with the fans when they have the different colors. That was beautiful,” stated Ms. Elracher.
Ms. Elracher also commented on the music, “The orchestra was great, especially the erhu solo, that was quite amazing. I’ve heard recordings, but I’ve never seen one played live.”
Shen Yun features a full-orchestra. It is also the only traveling performance group that is comprised of Western and Eastern instruments as its permanent body.
Shen Yun strives to revitalize 5,000 years of civilization through music and dance, according to the company’s website. China’s divinely-inspired culture has nearly been completely lost through almost 60 years of communist rule.
“It was interesting actually, how much spiritual aspect there is,” Ms. Elracher said about the cultural aspects of the performance. “You don’t see that of any type of religion, represented that way usually in art form—at least not in a public performance. I thought that was interesting.”
Reporting by Valorie Avore and Andrew Darin
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
