PARIS, France—As a classical pianist, Sofiya Tyschuk travels internationally to perform, but her recent trip to Paris was for less happy reasons: the war in her home country of Ukraine. Fortunately for the artist, the city was full of amazing art and performances, one of them Shen Yun Performing Arts, which was finishing its second tour in Paris for the 2023 season.
“I think this one is the best of the best of what I have seen before,” said Ms. Tyschuk at the Congrès in Paris on April 29. “It’s amazing. It’s fabulous.”
“I think it’s an amazing day for me because I am really impressed by—very professional, high-level music,” she said.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, often noted for its revival of the ancient art form. Also unique to a Shen Yun performance are the original musical compositions performed by its live orchestra that blends East and West, and its patented backdrop technology that extends the stage to the skies.
“It’s something new. I think it’s very new,” said Ms. Tyschuk. “Everything is very interesting and amazing.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture, which the ancients believed to be divinely inspired.
“I think the music and the way they dance, it’s not only about music and it’s not only about dance. It’s about some more meaningful about the soul, about what we want to express,” Ms. Tyschuk said.
For her, Shen Yun brought “absolute beauty“ into the world. It gave one the feeling of ”believing in something good in this life.”
Ms. Tyschuk had much interest in this culture, having spent a good part of her career performing in East Asia and attending performances there as well. She was moved by Shen Yun’s efforts to revive the traditional culture that had been under attack by China’s communist regime for decades.
“I have a lot of memories from Asia. I love it. And a lot of things were very related for me,“ she said, ”because of the situation in Ukraine. So this part was touching me a lot. I hope that in China all people will be happy and everything will be good.”“All of us have some problems, right? In daily life. But I think after this concert, all of us believe in something we can dream of. We can feel some happiness. Something more than just our daily routine life,” she said.
Reporting by NTD.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.