BOSTON—Boston’s business community was out on the town Sunday to take in legendary classical Chinese music and dance company Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Boston Opera House.
“We enjoyed the dancing and all the tumbling,” said Lucy White, a professor at Harvard business school, after the Feb. 10 evening performance.
Ms. White brought her two young daughters to experience classical Chinese dance.
“[The children] quite liked the ones where there was a story,” she said, adding they adored the colorful handmade costumes. “It was very nice to look at.”
New York-based Shen Yun was formed in 2006 by overseas Chinese artists, who wished to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through classical Chinese art forms.
Investment manager Steve Carhart, president and owner of Trust & Fiduciary Management Services Inc., said he had heard the buzz about Shen Yun from friends for years and decided he finally had to come and see it for himself this year.
“It’s thrilling to see such devotion to traditional culture, so that it doesn’t fail,” he said after the Feb. 10 afternoon performance. “That’s very important, I think, to keep that alive.”
He added it was refreshing to see a new and authentic perspective of Chinese culture through the story-based dance.
“It presents a whole different side of culture about China from what you ordinarily read in newspapers, which so often has either a political or economic color to it,” he said.
Ray Vandick, business analyst for Biotech firm Quality Systems Implementations, brought his family to the Feb. 9 performance and agreed Shen Yun offered a comprehensive view of traditional Chinese culture.
“It’s a showcase of all the different regions and styles of dance and music,” he said. “It’s great.”
Mr. Vandick’s daughter Taylor said classical Chinese dance was a beautiful medium to introduce the culture.
“Dance is such a physical, important part of every culture,” she said. “It’s overlooked a lot and I think it’s really cool it’s here because you can see so much about a culture and about how it changes through dance, just by tiny little movements or nuances of a dance.”
Taylor’s uncle, Jim Kemp, said he was stunned by Shen Yun’s beauty and artistry.
“I was really, totally surprised how wonderful it is. I definitely would recommend it—it’s so beautiful,” he said. “Seeing the culture is just delightful.”
Reporting by Huiwen Ji and Justina Wheale.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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