ST. LOUIS—Although Joe Ford doesn’t consider his tastes classical, he felt that Shen Yun Performing Arts could “tell a story in music and dance better than anything [he’s] seen.” The finance director of Paul Cerame Ford saw the Feb. 16 performance at the Peabody Opera House.
“Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales,” according to the company’s website.
At the heart of New York-based Shen Yun is classical Chinese dance. The comprehensive dance system is unique in its movements, technical demands, and inner meaning.
Mr. Ford gained a new understanding of Chinese culture by watching the dancers. “The motions are very intricate,” he said. “Everything looked like it was in sync. They do everything tiny: the motions with their fingers, the motions with their feet, everything is the same.”
He considered the evening an education in Chinese art, and picked out Mongolian Chopsticks as one dance that struck him as very exciting.
Mongolian Chopsticks is an example of another type of dance that Shen Yun highlights—folk dances, from some of the more than 50 ethnicities in China.
On a deeper level he thought that everything that Shen Yun does is spiritual. “It makes you think about things. I don’t want to say meditate; [but] it just calms you down. I guess that is the right word,” he said.
His overall impression? “I love it.”
Reporting by Stacey Tang and Sharon Kilarski
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
