“It was beautiful. It was so inspirational. It excites us and we want more of it. We were very lucky because we live in the city so we didn’t have to travel to see it. So we’re blessed for that,” Doliber said.
New York-based Shen Yun uses music and dance to revive a 5,000-year culture that was once nearly lost.
Shen Yun has been touring the globe since 2006, ever embarking on its mission to revive traditional Chinese culture through story-based, classical Chinese dance.
The Energy of a Shen Yun Performance
Doliber and Cooper both agreed that they could absolutely feel the energy coming from the stage.“You take for granted that that orchestra’s live, it’s flawless! You take for granted, the performers, you almost forget performers are acting in tune with this live orchestra, every once in a while you have to remind yourself it’s all live—the whole production. So it was thrilling in that aspect,” she said.
Doliber commented she could feel this being passed to the audience.
“It was very emotionally invoking on all the senses. Look at the visual. It’s a feast. It’s a feast for the eyes and the soul—mind, body, soul,” she said.
Several of the vignettes within the program feature solo vocalists and/or instrumentalists. Of the solo soprano’s voice, Doliber said it was “beautiful, no words … it kept getting better, she was fantastic.”
Cooper was amazed with the soprano’s projection.
“That was very intense, beautiful. And with the idea of a room that big, you can hear the whole thing,” he said.
Shen Yun means “the beauty of divine beings dancing,” a reference to the divinely inspired culture it is dedicated to reviving, and Doliber felt that divine presence.
“It is a higher being that takes over all of the actors participating and you can tell there is a higher being acting through them,” she said.
The graphic designer continued to explain, “I think that the higher power is acting through them so that all of these members can work together in sync like that. It’s like a timepiece, how they’re working together like gears of a watch. It doesn’t happen by accident.”
“Everything is so much in sync, like these musicians who are below the stage and the performers, everybody action is going in sync and the message is clear that there’s passion for this culture. They’re really embracing and showing the pride in it and it creates a new appreciation, a great new appreciation for opening cultures and bringing a show like this. We’re blessed to have it brought to us,” Doliber commented.
“I feel like it was such a blessing to have them in such a historical beautiful venue in the city so it was very magical, spiritually—very spiritual,” Doliber said finally.