BEAVER CREEK, Colorado—Sue Conaway, a retired urban planner, was in attendance for Shen Yun Performing Arts as the company made its way to Colorado’s Vilar Performing Arts Center on April 7.
“I loved it—it was fabulous,” she said after the performance. “The dancers were terrific, the singing, the orchestra, everything, and they made it look so effortless and fabulous—just fabulous. I loved it.”
Shen Yun—a non-profit organization—has become an international phenomenon, bringing the wonders of ancient Chinese culture to millions across the globe. During a Shen Yun performance, principles such as benevolence and justice, propriety and wisdom, respect for the heavens, and divine retribution, all come to life, washing over the audience.
“The costumes ... the staging—oh, and I loved that technique of the illustration of the dancers coming from the sky and then popping up on the stage,” she added. “It was just wonderful.”
“With state-of-the-art graphics technology, Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one,” reads the company’s website.
Ms. Conaway also said that she was struck by Shen Yun’s unprecedented use of both Eastern and Western instrumentation in the orchestra to create sounds never before heard. “Oh, terrific, and the combination of the traditional instruments with the Western instruments—it was very good.”
Shen Yun uses bright colors to tailor and recreate hundreds of new costumes each season. Every detail is given meticulous attention and is a result of artistic inspiration and careful polishing. Ms. Conaway said she was especially impressed by the “flowing of the fabric” that created “beautiful, really beautiful” scenes.
Although Shen Yun cannot be seen in China today due to the communist regime’s persecution of traditional Chinese culture, Ms. Conaway said she found the show “inspirational” and “terrific.”
“Really powerful, very powerful—makes me kind of sad,” she concluded of the near extinction of true Chinese culture.
Reporting by NTD Television and Michael Fitzgerald
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
