Master of Artistic Realism Blown Away by Shen Yun’s Colors
Colin Bradley has been encouraging people’s love of fine art and teaching them the skills to accomplish it for almost 40 years in England and around the world. His medium is pastel pencils and his specialty is creating pastoral landscapes and portraits of animals in stunning realism.“That’s what attracted me of course, the color is spectacular. It’s mind-blowing,” Bradley said.
“I’m just amazed,” Bradley said. The performance was more than what he thought it would be, from seeing advertisements on the television.
The dancers’ movements left a deep impression on Bradley who said he was “stunned by them.”
“They really flow ... serene kind of movements.” He added that the choreography was calming and mesmerizing.
Tremendous Energy
Bryan Edwards, a professional clarinet player, offered his response after watching Shen Yun closely and taking in the music of the live orchestra.
“I play the clarinet so I’ve been listening very carefully to the young man playing the clarinet in the orchestra: very, very good. Very good. Lovely tone,” said Edwards, who also teaches at Doreen Bird College of Performing Arts.
“I’m enjoying the live orchestra very much as well. I do like the mixture of the Western and the Eastern,” he said.
According to Shen Yun’s website, “Traditional Chinese music emphasizes the expression of inner feelings—the ancients always used musical instruments to relate their states of mind. Western music, meanwhile, focuses on the overall effect of the musical ensemble—and to achieve that, arrangement and harmony are of utmost importance. Shen Yun’s music combines these approaches to capture the essence of both East and West.”
Edwards said that he felt “tremendous energy coming from the stage.”
Moved to Tears While Describing Shen Yun
While a painter produces images and a musician resonates with his instrument, an actress’ medium is her very own heart and mind. Perhaps that’s why Dannielle Gostling, a TV and theater actress, poured her heart out and found herself moved to tears while describing her experience watching Shen Yun.“It was one of the most beautiful, spectacular things I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It was incredible,” she said.
“I thought it was incredibly profound and incredibly important and the bravery that it takes for people to use their skill and their craft and their artistry to tell a message that’s so important. When the narrator explained that this can’t be performed in China and the whole thing of being arrested and the meditation and then ... It was so deeply moving because to hear that, this isn’t, we’re not talking about the past, this is things that are happening today,” Gostling said.
“That’s what makes me a bit emotional because my husband and I meditate and to think that these people can’t do that in China and they’re persecuted for it, that was one of the main reasons that I booked because I read that online. And I thought ‘Oh my gosh!’ This is something that is to make people spiritual and to be the best possible version of themselves and live in this enlightened way and you’re persecuted for that! And that was one of the things that really hit me from the performance of how essential and how pure and beautiful it is and how it should not be persecuted.”
“Whether you believe in Buddha or Rama and Sita, or God and Jesus, whoever you believe in, I think that we have to know that there is a Divine being that is greater than us and stronger than us and above our comprehension,” she said.
“I'd like to say to the performers: You were just ... Look at you! I’ve never seen anything as incredible. Every single dancer, every movement, I mean the choreography and the music and the composition, the whole thing was just magnificent. But it was an energy, it was something that was felt in, kind of, my heart and my nervous system ... thank you, I’m eternally grateful,” Gostling said.
