VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Gerald Berry and his wife attended Shen Yun Performing Arts and found the experience both entertaining and enlightening.
“Oh, it’s fantastic,” said Mr. Berry, a university professor, seeing Shen Yun at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on April 9.
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.
Before working at a university, Mr. Berry had also run local governments as city manager, and was a competitive figure skater, and so took an interest in the
athleticism of the classical Chinese dancers.
“I think it’s fantastic, it’s fantastic ... I’m very impressed with the athleticism in the dancing,” he said.
Known for its expressive ability, classical Chinese dance also requires mastery of tumbling techniques like the
high flying leaps and flips that have since inspired other sports including gymnastics and acrobatics.
Mr. Berry thought there was a lot of cultural, heritage, and educational value in Shen Yun, and that it could benefit young people to see it.
“I think we'll have lots to tell people and have other people come,” he said.
Performer Zeus Ghadban also enjoyed Shen Yun on Wednesday afternoon. As a retired singer and actor, he appreciated the scale and the performance and how every team, every aspect came together to create what he called magic.
“Oh, it’s mesmerizing. It’s powerful. It’s fantastic. It’s emotional,” he said.
“I love the way they’ve incorporated the digital with the live. Like how they sneak into the screen and become and come alive on the screen and come through the screen and come alive onto the stage. I think that’s brilliant. It’s absolutely brilliant,” he said, referring to Shen Yun’s patented use of its
backdrop technology. “I love the colors and the orchestra is bang on. The music is just thick, thick with emotion. Thick with emotion and journey, like beautiful.”
“I’m amazed by it, it’s really well done,” he said.
He attended the performance with Maycille Enriquez, a retired nurse, who similarly felt the magic of the
performance.
“Out of this world experience and it’s just incredibly magnificent,” she said. “I feel like I’m a princess right now, yes, it’s just magical, magical and inspiring at the same time.”
Ms. Enriquez said she felt she was learning a lot about the traditional
Chinese culture, with showcasing the “humanity, the compassion, and the family-centered culture.”
Reporting by Nancy Ma and Catherine Yang.
