BUFFALO, N.Y.—Joan Benac drove all the way from Toronto to Buffalo to be able to see Shen Yun Performing Arts’ programme at the Shea’s Performing Arts Center on Friday evening.
“I am absolutely blown away by this wonderful talent in this group that is so disciplined,” said Ms. Benac.
“The stature, and the color and the music, and just the talent, brimming with talent—I don’t know how they do it, they must take special vitamins,” quipped Ms. Benac, who used to be a singer.
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premiere classical Chinese dance and music company. It was formed in 2006 by a group of leading classical Chinese artists with a mission to revive China’s divinely inspired culture.
Reflecting on the meaning of Shen Yun, which according to the Shen Yun website means “The beauty of heavenly beings dancing,” Ms. Benac said she could see a theme of “divine dancing of the heavens” in the performance.
“You get that message because of the stories that are involved in some of the instances that they show, and also you have to watch the screen at the back to get the sense of it,” she said, referring to the animated backdrops. The backdrops, used to create the setting for each dance piece, interact with the dances on stage in a magical way and are an audience favorite.
“That fascinated me,” Ms. Benac said about the backdrops.
“[The dancers] were coming out of the floor; I was fascinated with the technicality that they had to use to do that, to make it come off,” she said.
“There was a little boy sitting behind me … and he sat throughout the whole show—he was captivated. And I think the whole audience here tonight was captivated. I really do.”
With reporting by NTD Television
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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.
