VANCOUVER—The Kaye family treated themselves to an afternoon at the theatre on Saturday to take in the renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Ed Kaye, a lawyer and partner at Chilliwack, B.C.-based firm Waterston Law Group LLP, was impressed with Shen Yun’s orchestra.
“It was different. It’s not something we typically hear in our day-to-day life. I thought the instrumentation was great,” he said, after the Jan. 25 performance at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
The orchestra features a unique blend of traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa leading the melody, while a Western philharmonic orchestra plays the foundation of the scores.
Mr. Kaye said the East-meets-West blend worked beautifully.
“It was very good, I really enjoyed it.”
Mr. Kaye serves as president of the Chilliwack Hospice Society and has been a director and president of the Chilliwack-Fraser Rotary Club, the Chilliwack Family YMCA, and the YMCA Endowment Foundation, as well as a director of the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce.
His wife, Allison Kaye, a teacher at School District 33 in Chilliwack, said the overall performance was excellent and the dancers performed at a high level.
“Very good choreography. It was very visually appealing, stunning costuming,” said Mrs. Kaye, who holds a Master of Education from the University of Victoria and has been teaching for 30 years.
Mr. Kaye said that through Shen Yun’s story-based dances, which traverse China’s multifaceted, 5,000-year history, audiences could get a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.
“It’s interesting. You get a bit of a sense and learn a little bit more piece by piece,” he said.
The couple’s daughter, Hailey, a student and art lover, said she felt uplifted after seeing Shen Yun.
“It’s a very alive and colourful show,” she said. “I learned it’s a very very diverse culture.”
Reporting by Ryan Moffat and Justina Wheale
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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.
