ATLANTA—Audience members often marvel at the sheer scale of a Shen Yun Performing Arts production, among them in Atlanta on Dec. 26, Rick Voegele and granddaughter Amberly, who were thrilled with the beauty and dynamics of the performance.
“I love it all,” said Amberly. Mr. Voegele said, “There’s too much to take in at once!”
“It’s phenomenal. The skills, the skill set, and the dexterity, the coordination is beyond description,” said Mr. Voegele, a retired executive.
New York-based Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, has a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization—something Mr. Voegele is familiar with.
“My wife is Asian; we even built in our backyard a yin-yang with the notion of balance in life is very important to us,” he said.
Balance was something he saw in Shen Yun’s presentation of traditional Chinese culture, and the spirituality of the art impressed Mr. Voegele.
“It’s very hard to find, but it is very important,” he said of balance.
Indeed, ancient Chinese civilization prized balance, centering society on the concept of harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind. Shen Yun, on its website, also explains that traditional Chinese culture is full of principles based on balance, which often sounds like the coexistence of contradictions, even in the arts. Classical Chinese dancers train to portray strength through softness and stillness in motion. The company’s musicians of ancient Chinese instruments often speak of the music that happens between the notes.
“I think, having lived with my wife for many years, we still have very many interesting discussions about Eastern thought and Western thought,” he said. Having once studied engineering, his perspective has Newtonian foundations, and her perspective stretches them.
“Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Yet in her world, in the Eastern world, it’s patterns, it’s balance, energy,” he explained.
He felt Shen Yun was a phenomenal balance of the elements, pulled together.
“This performance embodies a great deal of that. Between the phenomenal physical requirements, the artistic view of that as well is bringing that all together,” he said.
