AUGUSTA, Ga.—Dan Pearson, publisher of The Augusta Medical Examiner, and his wife Patty were among the enthusiastic audience of Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company at the William Bell Auditorium on Jan. 31.
Mr. Pearson said he was very taken with the whole performance. “The culture is so beautiful, I’m sure there’s not another culture like it in the world, and what we saw, the music, the dancing, the costumes, everything about it is spectacular.”
Shen Yun with its hundreds of world-class artists aspires to create original performances that entertain and inspire. According to the program, “Values such as compassion and loyalty, kindness and bravery lie at the heart of traditional Chinese culture. We believe this rich heritage is a precious gift worth keeping, and worth sharing with all of you.”
In the face of the communist regime’s efforts to eradicate traditional Chinese culture, which has been guided by spiritual beliefs and principles, Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture, says its website. Being based in New York allows Shen Yun free artistic expression.
“I guess what is sad about it that people don’t have freedom of expression and that this presentation couldn’t even be made in China, that’s not a good thing when people can’t even express their views or practice their religion, things like that, without fear, repression that’s not a good thing.”
Mr. Pearson said he was especially impressed with Shen Yun’s high-tech digital backdrop. “The way the scene was integrated between the live action and the screen that was so well done. The timing was perfect timing, every time they did it.”
Mr. Pearson was referring to the animated backdrop that allows for dancers to seem to move in and out of the backdrop. According to the website, high-tech digital backdrops takes the audience from the “beginning of Chinese culture to modern day China; from battlegrounds to the heavens; from secluded monasteries to flowering gardens.”
With reporting by Sophia Bronwen.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will next perform in Cincinnati, Feb. 3 to 4, and then from Feb. 7 to 8 at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh, North Carolina.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
