SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Former Dancer Mesmerized by Shen Yun’s Transcendent Music

Feb 28, 2020

BASEL, Switzerland—Norwegian sports manager and former dancer Andreas Wolner-Hanssen, who organizes sports camps for children ages 6 to 13 in Switzerland, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Musical Theater Basel, on Feb. 27, 2020.

Given his background in dance, Wolner-Hanssen was very interested in the classical Chinese dance that New York-based Shen Yun is known for.

He said, “I was fascinated to see the precision, exactness of the performers—it was everything the same and so concise.”

Wolner-Hanssen repeatedly expressed his amazement with the precision of the dancers, and added that “the preciseness is fantastic.

“The performance delivers an insight into the story of Chinese art and classical music, as I have not seen before,” he said.

Wolner felt that the performance presented one entire story, that all the individual vignettes added up to something cohesive.

He said, “It is the image of an entirety and not the singular pieces, one after another.”

Music Calls for Meditating

Shen Yun’s music is famously unique, and the orchestra comes with the traditions of classical Western and traditional Chinese music.

As a former dancer, music is also in the blood of Wolner, and although he had never been exposed to an orchestra that combined Western and Eastern instruments, he was immediately taken with the tone emitted by the orchestra.

“Given the inclusion of exotic instruments, the outcome was beautiful music. One could savor the music, close ones eyes and achieve a meditating posture—amazing music,” he said.

He continued, “I closed my eyes on and off, let the music sink in, and meditated, forgetting my surroundings—the audience—and concentrated only on the performance.”

Spiritual Values

Wolner suggested that it is of the greatest importance that everyone looks at the entire performance holistically, and determine the experience for yourself, individually and spiritually.

“We have to be able to share our thoughts in the long run, although we experience the spiritual by ourselves,” he said. “I think that a small spark will ignite the interest.”

With reporting from NTD Television and Heide B. Malhotra.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the company’s inception in 2006.