“When I came out, I was no longer in my own country. I felt like I'd traveled and was there, between heaven and earth. It’s a beautiful experience,” said Ms. Seydoux.
Shen Yun was founded in New York in 2006, and since then, it has grown from one to eight companies, captivating audiences from across five continents. Ms. Seydoux, from Brittany, shared her impression of the performance.
“I really like this show because, first of all, behind it all, there’s an extraordinary discipline and a sense of balance. You can feel that there’s a spiritual side to it that drives all these people,” she said.
“In their dances, in their gestures, you can see this harmony, you can see this balance, and you get the impression that they’re carried along by this force, and that helps them a lot,” said Ms. Seydoux.
“It’s not like in our European dance where it’s much more rigid. Here, there’s a kind of suppleness, frankly, a natural feel. We had binoculars so we could that even in their faces, despite the effort they put in, they were relaxed,” said Ms. Seydoux.
“There is this inner beauty in their art. And that’s good because you feel that there are two [sides] to this art. There’s the divine side, and there’s also the material side—the body, the mind. So that’s what’s so wonderful. I thought it was a really beautiful show,” said Ms. Seydoux.
Shen Yun’s dancers not only strive to better their dance technique, they also work on bettering themselves as people.
“I think that the dancers meditate, and I have the impression that they also work a lot on the breath to allow themselves to have this capacity to dance and the capacity to be able to show us what they can do. We get the impression that it’s easy for them when you know, in fact, that it’s not easy,” said Ms. Seydoux.
“This company dares to say certain things, dares to talk about [China] and what’s going on there at the moment, unfortunately. And I think that can help humanity too because humanity needs to know,” expressed Ms. Seydoux.
Ms. Seydoux has visited China and experienced firsthand the lack of human rights.
“I’ve been to China. I perceived certain things, but I didn’t go deep enough. I couldn’t really communicate with the people who were there because we felt that we were very much under surveillance. So I think it’s a shame,” she said.
“I'd like [China] to open up and also allow these young dancers to be able to go back to their civilization. You can feel that there’s pain behind all this, that it’s painful for them, and you can really feel that they want to be reunited,” said Ms. Seydoux.
