KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—After missing an opportunity to see Shen Yun Performing Arts earlier in the year, choreographer and dancer Emily Perkins was delighted when a friend invited her to see Shen Yun at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum on April 27.
“It was the most beautiful show,” said Ms. Perkins. “Looking around, you can see people in tears. It was a therapeutic experience. The music, the dancing, it was so moving. ... I’m very, very blessed to have gotten to witness this.”
Ms. Perkins was both surprised and impressed to learn that since its inception in 2006, New York-based Shen Yun has performed an all-new program every year. Now, with eight equally sized companies that tour the world simultaneously, Shen Yun’s
mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and the beauty of China before communism.
Shen Yun performs with a live orchestra that combines traditional Chinese and Western instruments. Ms. Perkins praised the orchestra and said that she enjoyed listening to the
erhu, a two-stringed Chinese instrument.
“I love that instrument,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s only [got] two strings, and it can sound and fill the room with so much emotion the way it does.”
Besides dance vignettes, Shen Yun’s program also includes story-based dances, some of which are set in modern-day China and depict the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of followers of faith. Ms. Perkins said that she hadn’t known about the ongoing
persecution and that Shen Yun’s performance was very educational.
“The way that they’re telling it—they’re telling it in a way that you can understand and be comfortable with taking in the information,” said Ms. Perkins. “So it was very direct yet easing in, and I really appreciate their way of storytelling.”
As a choreographer, Ms. Perkins shared her review of
the dancing from a professional perspective.
“It was just stunning, epic. The choreography was so in unison; they were so sharp yet elegant, and moving, and serene. The girls’ hand movements, everything down to the delicacy in their fingertips, one girl at one point just by her pointing, it’s like she says everything in just her one point, pointing her finger. They just are so wonderful at
telling stories through movement in their bodies.”
Reporting by Roland Ree and Wandi Zhu.
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