SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Teachers Appreciate Shen Yun’s Educational Value, Daughter Wide-Eyed

Mar 02, 2014
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Teachers Appreciate Shen Yun’s Educational Value, Daughter Wide-Eyed
Shen Yun Performing Arts World Company's curtain call at the Wang Theatre at Citi Performing Arts Center, on March 1, 2014. (Edward Dai/Epoch Times)

BOSTON—It was her 10-year-old daughter who insisted on going to see Shen Yun, said Jennifer Birenbach.

“My daughter was totally riveted,” she said.

At the last minute Ms. Birenbach, an educator, worried that her daughter may not be well enough to attend the show. “But then she rallied. She loved it.”

We kept looking at her, and she was wide-eyed the whole time, said Ms. Birenbach, demonstrating the wide-eyed look that her daughter had on her face while watching the classical Chinese dance and music performances.

Ms. Birenbach attended Shen Yun with a friend, Rebecca Fiarman, who is a music teacher at The Advent School in the heart of Boston.

Ms. Fiarman was amazed by the dance performances and said that she “couldn’t get enough” of seeing the dancers interacting with the digital screen.

According to Shen Yun Performing Arts’ website, the digital backdrop designs complement and synchronize all aspects of the performance: the characters, color of the costumes, specific dance movements, props, lighting, the story being told, and even particular notes played by the orchestra and special audio effects. The digital backdrops evoke vividly animated settings that extend the stage and transport the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one.

Ms. Birenbach also loved the dancers. “I loved the dancing and the gracefulness. They make it look so easy, they’re so professional. Whenever they make it look so easy, you know how good they are—and they definitely made it look easy.”

She went on to say that she hoped her daughter would also connect the information she had studied previously about Mongolian culture with the Mongolian Chopsticks dance that was part of the show.

Speaking about how Shen Yun presented ancient stories creatively, and in such a different way, Ms. Birenbach said the experience was not only entertaining, but also an educational opportunity.

Reporting by Phoebe Ryles and Kati Vereshaka

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.