ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Roza Sampolinska, a portrait photographer, was “extremely pleasantly surprised” by the beauty she saw at a Shen Yun performance on Jan. 18 at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts.
“I actually was never a fan of Chinese art of this kind, and I came here with a very open mind,” she said, “I have to say, I’m extremely pleasantly surprised. It’s absolutely beautiful, exquisite, and I found a new respect for Chinese art.”
Ms. Sampolinska said of note were the movements of the dancers and the flow of their costumes.
She said, “For me, as a photographer, I enjoyed the dancing and the colorful costumes, the movement of the fabric, the grace of the dancers. I see how much work and professionalism it takes. And [it is] the oldest culture in the world for a reason, right? I’m very pleasantly surprised, and I’m glad I’m here.”
“The dresses that have horizontal stripes: green, yellow, orange. When they were moving the fabric, how it flows in the air, it’s just exquisite. It was beautiful. And the pink flamingo, almost flamingo color with a little glitter ... It was just beautiful.”
“The artistry and the amount of work it took, most likely to direct it from the artistic point of view, is very impressive.”
Ms. Sampolinska found the backdrops very engaging, “I love the backgrounds, I love how the digital display is connected with the colors that the artists, the dancers wear, how the fabric flows. It just creates a great continuum. [I’m a] big fan. Beautiful!”
She continued, “It’s seamless how the artists, how the dancers move from the stage to the background, and then how the background depicts the place where the whole story takes place and shows the natural beauty of the Chinese land. I’m really impressed.”
She said, “[Shen Yun] shows the strength of Chinese people, how strong they are connected to their history and what’s happening now with communism. Our country was under communism as well for decades, and we persevered, so I can relate to that. It’s really enlightening.”
