NEW YORK CITY—Marc and Marina Thauvette’s daughter is a dancer, so they came to see Shen Yun Performing Arts with an appreciation for the art of dance, and were impressed by the beauty and skill they witnessed at Lincoln Center on April 9.
“Beautiful, in sync ... amazing beauty, like just even how in sync they are ... the flow and the energy, it’s just beautiful,” said Mr. Thauvette, a bank director.
Mrs. Thauvette, a real estate agent, agreed, applauding the “very talented” dancers.
“Absolutely stunning, very impressive,” she said.
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.
“I had a smile on my face the entire time. It made you feel like you’re watching art manifest in front of you,” Mr. Thauvette said.
Mr. Thauvette was impressed with many aspects of the performance; the coordination wasn’t limited to dancers being in sync down to the way they moved their arms, but also in how they interacted with what he described as special effects, including the use of clouds through stage fog, and the
digital backdrop of Shen Yun’s unique design.
“I especially liked when they jumped out of the clouds ... and it was just beautiful,” He said, “Our daughter is
a dancer, but we didn’t know that a lot of the movements originated from ancient Chinese classic dance. So, it was just kind of like beautiful to see in the jumps and how high they got. And some of the stories. The stories are absolutely beautiful.”
Mr. Thauvette said the beautiful stagecraft was used to display the spirituality of traditional Chinese culture, and he found the depictions of heavenly scenes interesting.
“I just think it was beautiful,” he said. “It kind of ties in just that wonder and, like, the magic of it all and just something greater.”
Mr. Thauvette felt Shen Yun’s
mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization was an admirable one.
“I think it’s always important to remember where we’ve been and where we come from. And I think it’s very important to keep telling
the stories and show that there’s a lot of importance in values and how, like, and how it impacts culture and just understanding those grassroots stories and ideals,” he said.
Reporting by Sally Sun and Catherine Yang.
