MONTREAL—After a successful four-show run in Ottawa, Shen Yun Performing Arts is set to grace the stage at Place des Arts in Montreal starting Monday as part of the Canadian leg of its 2014 world tour. 

For a total of four evening shows from Jan. 6–9, New York-based Shen Yun’s classical Chinese dance performance will warm the hearts of Montrealers during this rather cold start to winter.

Heralding the Year of the Horse, which begins at the end of January, the acclaimed production delighted audiences in Québec City and Ottawa last week with a colourful, luminous, and energetic program inspired by 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

Bernard Drainville, the minister responsible for democratic institutions and active citizenship in the province of Quebec and also a former Radio-Canada journalist, attended one of the performances held at the Grand Théâtre in Québec City. 

Accompanied by his family, he found the show not only entertaining but also educational.

“It’s a very pleasant show and wonderful to see with the whole family,“ he said. ”It’s like travelling from dynasty to dynasty, from one Chinese region to another. It’s educational; it is educating society and me as well. We need to be educated about this topic.”

The high-calibre and athleticism of the Shen Yun dancers has impressed many professional artists. 

“I was completely delighted,” said Lorie-Anne Pelchat, a figure skater also trained in classical dance who has performed in several productions, including the show Skate Mania in October, which featured Olympic medallist Joannie Rochette and singer and comic Marc Dupré.

“It seems something happened [during Shen Yun]. I feel like it greatly refreshed me, as though I had been purged of the chaotic world in which we live where the pace is extreme: traffic, job, etc.,” she said. 

“It seems everything was softened to allow beauty to emerge. I was sprinkled by every good thing Shen Yun has to offer.”

Some travelled a long way to attend the performance. For example, Dr. Jean-Bernard Trudeau, administrator at the Collège des médecins du Québec, and Louise Potvin, director-general of the CSSS Pierre-Boucher, drove from Montreal’s South Shore to Quebec City.

Dr. Trudeau said the performance “transmits good values,” while Ms. Potvin noted that “We’re in a completely different world today, with all the material things around us, but Shen Yun focuses on people. ... It’s full of respect and consideration for people.”

A Rich and Diversified Culture

For its eighth consecutive touring year in Canada (eight is an auspicious number in China), many political figures sent their greetings to Shen Yun. 

Shen Yun has four distinct touring companies that will perform simultaneously across the world during the upcoming months, visiting some 100 cities on five continents.

The recently re-elected Québec City mayor, Régis Labeaume, said he was delighted to welcome for a second year the “festive, colourful, and luminous” performance.

“This year again, Shen Yun transports us to a poetic realm where ancient Chinese legends come back to life, to bring us messages of compassion, courage, and hope,” wrote the mayor in a letter to the organizers.

With dance pieces included in its program that pay tribute to several of China’s many ethnic groups, Shen Yun “enriches our Canadian cultural mosaic,” said Governor General David Johnston. 

“In a multicultural and diversified society like ours, such a high-quality production is a great source of enjoyment,” he wrote.

“Music, art, and dance transcend cultural boundaries and are great mediums for intercultural dialogue and understanding. In Canada, music, art and dance have played a fundamental role in the development of our pluralistic society,” said Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. 

Mr. Alexander congratulated Shen Yun for its mission to revive on stage the essence of Chinese culture.

After Montreal, Shen Yun will perform in Hamilton (Jan. 11–12), Kitchener-Waterloo (Jan. 14–15), Mississauga (Jan. 16–19), Toronto (Jan. 23–26), and Vancouver (Jan. 23–25).

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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