GOLD COAST, Australia—Mr. Keith Benn was impressed with Shen Yun’s timing in its Saturday matinee performance.
“The way they’ve used the video at the back and the dancing, the split second timing to bring them together, that’s been very, very good,” he said.
Mr. Benn and his wife were among the packed audience who enthusiastically applauded the all aspects of the Shen Yun performance at the Arts Theatre in The Arts Centre, on the Gold Coast, April 26.
A special feature of Shen Yun performances is the digital backdrops. The company’s website explains, “These digital backdrop designs complement and synchronize all aspects of the performance: the characters, color of the costumes, specific dance movements, props, lighting, the story being told, particular notes played by the orchestra, and special audio effects.”
Mr. Benn is a consulting linguist for SIL, an international faith based non-profit organization serving language communities and as such he is well placed to understand the different ethnicities in China.
Mr. Benn said he and his wife had worked “in Nepal, India [and] in the Philippines.”
Shen Yun’s website explains the story of dances from different ethnicities in China, “Chinese ethnic and folk dance represents a vast and varied assortment of traditional dance styles. Chinese ethnic dance generally refers to the dance forms passed down among the many minority ethnic groups within China.”
Mr. Benn’s work involves understanding different ethnicities and he noted, “It’s interesting to me that they are taking several different ethnic cultures within China and calling it Chinese, because sometimes it seems that within China only that one ethnic group is Chinese, but in fact there are many different ethnic groups in China.”
Mr. Benn continued, “The dancing is from different ethnic groups, like the Mongolian, the Yao [and] Manchurian.”
Shen Yun has two emcees who guide the audience through the programme using English and Mandarin. Mr. Benn appreciated this saying they “have done a good job in explaining what’s coming, they are explaining very well.”
“China is many cultures and so the show is being drawn from different cultures, because each culture has its own language and its own cultural ethnicity.” he said.
Mr. Benn described his Shen Yun experience as “Amazing.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Judy Shakespear
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
