NEW YORK CITY—Traditional Chinese culture has been an integral part of John Mirrione’s life, so it was a no brainer that he see Shen Yun Performing Arts and the artists’ revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
Mr. Mirrione has had a career as a professional dancer, is the founder of a martial arts school, and has had his life saved with knowledge of the intricacies of breath due to his training in traditional Chinese martial arts. So seeing Shen Yun
dancers accomplish what they did on stage, Mr. Mirrione was deeply moved.
“I understand movement,” he said after seeing Shen Yun at Lincoln Center on March 29. “I was amazed at the movement and the fluidity ... The level is as good as you can get. It was really amazing and beautiful. The way they could blend ... it was very peaceful and loving.”
Mr. Mirrione found Shen Yun “very inspiring, because it shows the sides of Chinese culture that people should know about.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company. Through
music and
dance, Shen Yun’s mission is to show audiences the beauty of China before communism.
“I have a deep appreciation for the tradition and the storylines that go with each performance,” Mr. Mirrione said, adding that Shen Yun’s unique stagecraft with the use of a digital backdrop amplified that storytelling.
“Choreography is spectacular. The way they blend it from the stage into
the screen and the screen into the stage is mind-blowing,“ he said. ”It was beautiful, the special effects in the background, the way they blend the modern and the old and the new.”
He said the artists were able to use their expression to make the audience feel something in their hearts and minds, and connect them to what is important.
“Things like this is important because it connects people back to where they are,” Mr. Mirrione said. “It’s a performance that every person should see once in their lifetime at least.”
“Because it opens their minds and their hearts. Because the more you know about another culture, the more you know about yourself,” he said, adding that
the artists conveyed some important principles. “It’s definitely the truth and the compassion. You can see it because they’re expressing what once was. There’s an aspect of what once was is what is right now. And I can see the compassion as if they show the stories about how one is feeling for the other and the caring for each other.”
Mr. Mirrione said if he had anything to say to the artists, it would only be to encourage them as a fellow performer, to stay in their purpose and passion.
“You’re impacting the world by expressing not only
the history, but the presence of what people should connect to, they need to connect to their bodies, and to move. It’s like being your breath, being the movement is what it’s all about,” he said.
Reporting by Sally Sun and Catherine Yang.
