MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Sivabal Sivaloganathan is a math professor at the University of Waterloo. It’s not the kind of job one immediately equates with a person passionate about the performing arts, but on Saturday Mr. Sivaloganathan gushed with praise for Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“Very impressive,” he said. 

“We have seen classical ballet normally. Never seen anything like this, but the amount of coordination and energy–it’s just quite amazing,” he said, adding that he wished he had brought his kids along.

“The tumbling and the coordination you need, especially when you have a large group of people, to actually synchronize, it’s quite an amazing feat. Very impressed with it.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Classical Chinese dance is an ancient art form that has been passed down and enriched dynasty after dynasty in China’s imperial courts, theatres, and operas. 

“We tend to forget, in the West, the depth of culture that comes from the Far East when you think about classical ballet ... it’s such a short period of time when you think about it. And just to see that this [classical Chinese dance] has all survived and is still being demonstrated is very great.”

Shen Yun, which was founded on a mission to revive China’s divinely inspired culture after 65 years of communist rule, also includes ethnic dances from China’s many ethnicities and folk dances from around the country. Mr. Sivaloganathan said he was surprised by the diversity of dances.

“It’s just amazing to think that there are so many variations of the dance theme that are quite distinctive in many ways,” he said.

He said Shen Yun’s dancers must have spent “years and years” training to achieve such perfection in their the dancing. 

When asked to describe the show in three words, he said it was difficult, but he would say “impressive, amazing, astounding.”

He said he had been wanting to see Shen Yun for many years and was glad to have finally come. He would encourage others to do the same. 

“I would encourage them not to delay and come and see this show next time it’s in town.” 

Mr. Sivaloganathan is a full professor in the Mathematics Faculty at the University of Waterloo and head of the Biomedical Research Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics.

A biomechanics expert, he worked to develop mathematical models of clinical conditions and diseases using continuum mechanics. He’s also been principal investigator on a number of grants including NSERC Collaborative Health, Hospital for Sick Children Foundatio,n and CITO grants.

Reporting by NTD Television

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. Shen Yun International Company will perform one more show in Mississauga before continuing on to Sony Centre in Toronto. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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