“I loved [Shen Yun], I loved it,” Kaluby said, after the performance. “Great dancers, great technique, wonderful artists. The choreography is fantastic and the music is wonderful.”
“It’s really fabulous, I enjoyed it very much. The ladies are so graceful, and the costumes are just making the movements even—it echoes more, just grander than what the movement is. So the combination of the costumes that they wear for the dynasties and the movement—very, very interesting. It’s quite lovely actually,” Kaluby said.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture through riveting art forms such as classical Chinese dance, bel canto vocal performances, live orchestral music, and more.
The soul of China’s authentic culture is widely regarded as a divinely-inspired one and has always been deeply spiritual, since time immemorial. It’s this spiritual component that Shen Yun’s artists feel is so crucial to the revival of the culture, and is seen throughout a Shen Yun performance, in story themes, song lyrics, and characters portrayed.
Kaluby was touched by this aspect of the performance.
“I think the spiritual part is great, it speaks to everybody,” he said. “I think there are more spiritual people today than it used to. And there are many different ways of expressing themselves, and ultimately it leads to one direction, which is a higher being. And this is great, this is great. It speaks to everybody.”
A few of Shen Yun’s roughly 20 vignettes depict followers of a spiritual discipline, Falun Dafa, who are persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) today but who respond to the brutality with compassion, perseverance, and faith. In the end, good is rewarded by heaven and evil is punished in these stories in accordance with long-held Chinese wisdom.
“It’s sad that if this particular style and cultures disappear, so keeping it alive is very, very important for all the new generation that have never seen such a thing. I believe it’s an important part,” he added.
The expert performer and choreographer picked up on something very special about Shen Yun that its artists hope to express to their audiences: an intangible positive energy.
Kaluby described the feeling of watching Shen Yun as “very serene.”
“It puts you at ease. It puts you in a whole different level of feeling. It’s not your daily activities. It’s very calming. It has quite a lot of serenity around it. There’s no other word I can think of.”
“Throughout history,” Shen Yun’s website states, “almost every culture looked toward the divine for inspiration. Art was meant to uplift, bringing joy to both the people who created and experienced it. It is this principle that drives Shen Yun performers and their art.”
The Chinese phrase Shen Yun translates to “the beauty of divine beings dancing” in English, and Kaluby certainly felt it is an apt description of Shen Yun’s dancers themselves. “Yes, yes there is no doubt about that, there are no doubts about that,” Kaluby said.
“Well, everything that they do is really—the movement itself, it comes from the heart, from inside, and it’s all expressed outward. And it’s not a small movement, it’s really grand. And I enjoyed it, I really enjoyed it a lot. The ladies are really just fabulous, they’re really fabulous dancers, I have to say. Their technique is enormous, their artist[ry] is fabulous. And even the use of their arms, and feet, their extensions, their leaps are just amazing. Whether it’s ladies or men, they’re all just equally impressive, just impressive,” Kaluby said.
In addition to their grueling training schedule, Shen Yun’s artists practice Falun Dafa, the ancient spiritual discipline that consists of moral principles and energy-strengthening exercises. They cite this practice as a great source of inspiration and artistry, as well as a foundation for their dancer’s accomplishments.
“I can tell you their practice definitely shows. There is no doubt,” Kaluby asserted. “There is nobody in this whole company that came on that stage that has not put time. Growing up putting on practice, hours and hours every single day, six days a week, of nine hours a day, I believe these guys are doing more than that. And really it shows. It’s just fabulous.”
The international dance devotee hoped to take in Shen Yun again one day, and expressed his appreciation to each of the dancers, asking that his message be passed on directly to them.
“It’s so impressive. I hope to see you again and I'd love to meet each and every one of you. But it’s very impressive. Thank you so much for the performance and thanks for coming to Jacksonville,” Kaluby said.
