SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Presents a ‘Culture That’s Uplifting’ With ‘Transcendent Beauty,’ Says Painter

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Shen Yun Presents a ‘Culture That’s Uplifting’ With ‘Transcendent Beauty,’ Says Painter
Artist Michelle Doran enjoys Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 1, 2023. Xinxin Teng/The Epoch Times

TORONTO, Canada—Inspired by the “transformative” and “dynamic” performance, Michelle Doran, painter and poet, said Shen Yun Performing Arts was “in touch with the past on a wave to the future.”

Mrs. Doran attended the production at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 1.

“I cried from joy,” she said. “I just find beauty touching when it comes from the heart. And it’s a transcendent beauty.”

“There was newness and freshness but still something ancient, and that was a beautiful mix.”

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales spanning the 5,000 years of China’s story and culture.
“It’s like a different kind of beauty from the kind of beauty you see in magazines and advertisements,” Mrs. Doran said. “It’s more than the costumes or the prestige … it’s real artistry.”
She said the experience of true art happens “when you feel the connection inside, and you feel it in your body and in your heart and in your mind at the same time.”
“I felt electric,” she said, “I had goosebumps at the back of my neck and I cried because it was so beautiful.”

“I think we’ve gotten far away from our hearts, and the show was full of heart,” she added.

China was once known as “The Land of the Divine” and Shen Yun presents this culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s rich history rooted in Buddhist and Daoist philosophies.
In the past, artists looked to the divine for inspiration and cultivated virtue in order to create uplifting art. Today, Shen Yun’s artists follow in this noble tradition, which is why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun, says the company’s website.

“It was uplifting [and] hopeful,” Mrs. Doran said. “They’re authentic in what they’re pursuing and what they’re trying to [do] … genuine.”

Mrs. Doran appreciated the purity of the performance and “seeing the human body elevated in a way that’s not sexualized.”

“It’s good to be exposed to real artistry that isn’t just for capitalism or commercialism or glorifying superficial things. And this is an example of a culture that’s uplifting.”

‘A Memorable Evening’

Composer Andres Galindo Areaga at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada, on April 1, 2023. (NTD)
Composer Andres Galindo Areaga at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada, on April 1, 2023. NTD

Andres Galindo Areaga, composer and musician, also attended the Shen Yun performance at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 1.

“The music was very dynamic,” he said, “All the different dances and choreographies were well crafted and timed.”

The Western and Chinese instrumentation he said was “balanced … seamless … [and] impactful.”
Shen Yun features a one-of-a-kind orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra. Ancient Chinese instruments, such as the two-string erhu and the pipa, lead the melody amidst the traditional instruments found in a Western orchestra.
The erhu is a traditional Chinese two-stringed capable of conveying a broad range of emotions.

Mr. Areaga was both “impressed” and “shocked” by the erhu player, which he said was one of his favorite highlights of the performance, as well as the interaction of the music and choreography to the background projection.

Shen Yun utilizes a cutting-edge patented digital backdrop that allows audiences to see beyond the stage, allowing the performers to magically travel back and forth between the stage and the background projection.

“I’ve never seen something like that in a presentation … how it interacted in time with what was happening in the background—totally impressed by it,” he said.

To the Shen Yun conductor, Mr. Areaga said, “Thank you for making a memorable evening!”

Reporting by NTD, Xinxin Teng, and Jennifer Schneider.

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