SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Sergey Atanasov, an operations manager, and his wife, Emily Atanasov, attended the first of two Shen Yun Performing Arts performances in Spartanburg.
“It was amazing—all of the different colors and performances. It was a full spectrum of all the different types of dances that just kind of encompassed traditional, but also incorporated modern interpretation. It was fabulous. I really like the storytelling across the ages for sure,” said Ms. Atanasov, who works in product management.“This was amazing. [Shen Yun] covered all different ages, different regions, and then different times. It was a great introduction for sure. It was absolutely beautiful,” Ms. Atanasov said.
Shen Yun’s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.“I was paying attention to the arms and the hand movements with the costume designs, but their leg movements and feet movements were just so intricate and timely. It was really impressive to see how coordinated they were and all of the special moves. It was great for sure,” Ms. Atanasov said.
Shen Yun uses classical Chinese dance to tell stories from Chinese history, literature, myth, and legend. Ms. Atanasov shared that the two dance stories, “A Restaurant Tale” and “Enlightenment,” stood out to her.“It was very easy to follow along. The one about the commander who became a monk and resisted temptation—that was really cool to watch,” she said.
The costumes in Shen Yun were designed by Shen Yun’s artistic director D.F. The attire is historically appropriate to each dynasty being depicted and has often been described as the attire worn in the heavens.
“That was amazing to see. When the Golden Peacock dance came on with the longer sleeves, and how they did all of the different turns to incorporate those outfits into the dance. It was wonderful,” Ms. Atanasov.
Shen Yun’s use of its digital backdrop is patented. The versatility of technology allows the set to change scenes in the blink of an eye, giving the stage endless possibilities.
Reporting by Sonia Wu and Maria Han.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
