Ms. Santry, a painter, said, “I like it. I think it’s excellent. Working with the background and the foreground is very surprising. I’ve never seen that before, the way they can run into the sky. That’s excellent. That’s done very well,” she said.
As a Manhattan-based contemporary fine arts painter, fashion illustrator, and associate professor of art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Ms. Santry noticed the beauty of the dancers’ apparel.
“They’re unique and original, and they’re also feminine and delicate, and they have layers. The proportions of where the colors are next to each other are very, very good and very sophisticated,” she said.
The costumes sent warm feelings throughout her. “I think joy and movement, I think the [costumes] work well with the movement.”
Ms. Santry said she wanted to be nearer to the stage to experience each act.
“I wish I were closer. I would like to feel the band and the music together more. The physicality of the dancers is exquisite. Absolutely the best—they are in such good shape that they can bend into anything. They could not be more practiced and rehearsed as dancers. And they’re telling the story beautifully.”
‘It’s Beautiful, It’s Transcendent’
Mr. Ngolla, an IT specialist, said, “I wasn’t sure what to expect. You hear all the stories about how wonderful the dance is, and how amazing the show is going to be. But the description is never as beautiful as what you actually see, and I was completely impressed by the music,” he said. “The different stories were also artistically portrayed in dance. It was beautiful to see.”
“I think it’s the range that impressed me the most,” he said. “To be fighting in the air with dragons, such amazing mystical creatures, and then be back at the shop, cleaning up. It’s something that you can identify with but also something that’s out of this world at the same time. So the range was very nice.”
“I’ve lived in New York for 20 years. I’ve been seeing commercials for years and never actually made it [to a performance], but it’s beautiful.
“It’s transcendent. It has a lot of simple stories from old times, and then it brings in all the new stories from today’s China.”
