KITCHENER-WATERLOO, Canada—Dancer Ruth Andersen, who has been teaching dance for over 20 years, was highly impressed by the calibre of the dancers in the Shen Yun Performing Arts show she attended at Centre In The Square on Wednesday.
“It is my very first time to the show and it was absolutely phenomenal, absolutely stunning,” said Ms. Anderson, who teaches ballet, tap, and jazz.
“The dancers were amazing, flawless. They made everything look so easy but you could see the strength and poise behind them. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely come back again. It was great.”
“A flawless performance, really.”
Shen Yun showcases both classical Chinese dance and folk and ethnic dances that pay tribute to the Middle Kingdom’s many diverse regions and ethnicities.
Classical Chinese dance, an art form passed down and enriched over thousands of years, has deep roots in traditional Chinese ideals about beauty and grace. It is also physically demanding, incorporating dramatic flips and tumbling techniques that share a common ancestry with martial arts.
“The acrobatics were amazing. And the strength that it takes to do that and to sustain in the air like that is just phenomenal,” said Ms. Anderson.
“Especially for everything to look so effortless, with the female and male dancers, it was amazing. The costuming was stunning and everybody was very synchronized. It was a lovely performance.”
Through classical Chinese dance and live orchestral music, New York-based Shen Yun showcases the true traditional culture passed down over China’s 5000 year history.
“To see the authentic history behind the dance ... I really really quite enjoyed it,” said Ms. Anderson.
“The choreography was lovely,” she added. “The lighting, the costuming, were absolutely stunning. … And I really loved a lot of the work with the sleeves and the fans, and the lighting picking up on that. It was absolutely beautiful.”
She said she particularly enjoyed Delicate Beauty of the Han, a dance from the Han Dynasty in which Han imperial dancers wore long, flowing “water” sleeves.
“I want to go back and take that to the studio and see if we can do something like that in one of our ballet numbers. I’ve seen some of the scarf work but to have it actually attached to the sleeves—that was quite lovely. A really neat take on that.”
Ms. Anderson also praised the Shen Yun Orchestra with its unique blend of Western and Chinese instruments.
“Especially to have the combination of the traditional instruments and the Chinese instruments, it was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would come again most definitely and I would recommend it to my students to come and see it,” she said.
She described the show as “intriguing, gravitating, and energizing.”
“There was an energy in that room, for sure. It evoked emotion, most definitely.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Joan Delaney
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s World Company will perform one more show in Kitchener-Waterloo Wednesday before continuing on to Mississauga. 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.
