SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Like Entering a Dream,’ Says Music Teacher, Stage Director

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Shen Yun ‘Like Entering a Dream,’ Says Music Teacher, Stage Director
Eli Kadoury and Myriam Bourget enjoyed Shen Yun at the National Arts Centre the afternoon of March 18, 2023. Donna He/The Epoch Times
OTTAWA, Canada—Music teacher and stage director Myriam Bourget was “expecting something amazing” when she finally got tickets to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the National Arts Centre on the afternoon of March 18.

The performance itself “was beyond amazing,” she said.

“The music, the costumes, the dancers altogether as a whole was truly amazing,” added Ms. Bourget, who has also worked as a stage director for nine years in community theatre with young adults.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, and in addition to presenting this ancient art in its most authentic form is known for a number of other unique features. Its dynamic backdrop that blends the stage and screen is patented technology. The orchestra that tours with each dance group blends ancient Chinese instruments into a classical Western ensemble. The program also includes solo musical vignettes by vocalists using the traditional bel canto style or a solo performance by an erhu virtuoso.
Being a music teacher, these musical aspects intrigued Ms. Bourget.
“It was really a splendid moment. One of the best moments was when the erhu player was playing pianissimo—really, really soft. And you could hear thousands of people holding their breath, just trying to listen to the notes she was doing,“ she said. ”That was really a wonderful moment.”

“It’s like entering a dream,” she said.

Of the orchestra, she said, “the arrangement were really impressive, I don’t know how they did it. to be honest!”

“I would recommend it to anybody to go and see it. And I wish I could bring all of my kids in school just to see it,” said Ms. Bourget, who teaches music in middle school. “It was really impressive, educational, and really artistic too.”

A soprano took to the stage that day as well.

“The last note she did, especially, filled the entire theatre, filled it to the top, from the side, everywhere! It was impressive,” she said. “She was bringing life to everybody—that was amazing.”

Ms. Bourget spoke of the impact of Shen Yun’s beauty, shining a light on what is needed and universal.

“Dostoevsky has a saying that beauty will save the world. I think through beauty, every way of thinking life can be brought and can be lived together as human beings. So I thought that it was really interesting and full of hope and respectful,” she said.

“At the same time, I liked that there was a bit of a [criticism] of media and cellphones and everything like this, to enhance the connection between us, to go back to some things that were more fruitful, so I enjoyed that,” she said.

“I thought that the storyline was really well thought [out] and brilliant because it brings us from where we came from to the stories between humans,” she said. “Then we see that today it hasn’t changed much. We still need answers to questions. We still need one another. So I felt that it was a good way to take all of humanity, I would say.”
“I really enjoyed it. I do think that every spirituality—but the way that it was presented here, really touched me—can bring, really, a lot of hope, a lot of understanding, and open-mindedness. And amidst all difficulties can [remind us] to have something in common, even if we express it in different ways,” she said.
“I’m going to tell [my friends] as soon as I get home; we have to buy other tickets now because it’s a must—we have to see it,” 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.
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