MISSISSAUGA, Canada—As a professional photographer who has focused on fashion magazine photography for the past several years, Bardia Nouri noticed the striking colours on stage when he attended Shen Yun Performing Arts on Saturday night at the Living Arts Centre.

“I feel refreshed. Let’s say for a winter night, I feel very refreshed. It was a joy to the eye to see so many colours beautifully blended, and so vibrant,” Mr. Nouri said.

“Definitely the dancing, it was spectacular,” he noted, praising the presentation of mainly classical Chinese dance by the renowned New York-based performing arts company.

However, he quickly returned to the topic of colours, one of the often-praised highlights of the show, including the digitally projected backdrops that are an innovation in the world of dance, pioneered by Shen Yun.

“I noticed that the colours were matching the theme. If it was a dark theme, the colours were a little less vibrant. If it was a bright theme, it was definitely more vibrant and colourful,” he said.

The state-of-the-art digital backdrops complement and synchronize with all aspects of the performance, including the colours of the costumes, but also the characters, specific dance movements, the props, the lighting, the music, and particular notes played by the orchestra, as explained on the Shen Yun website.

“And the clothing, the fashion, the tailorship was beautifully, beautifully done,” Mr. Nouri added.

Shen Yun was founded in 2006 with a mission to revive the 5,000-year-old traditional culture of China through performing arts excellence in dance and music.

In this endeavour, the authentic presentation of the attire that comes from China’s divinely inspired traditional culture plays a major role.

Shen Yun’s costume artists collect countless designs of this attire and use bright colours to tailor and recreate hundreds of new, all-original pieces every season, the company’s website states.

East Meets West in Music

Another hallmark of Shen Yun is a unique orchestra that seamlessly blends the sounds of East and West, featuring a Western orchestra that plays the foundation while traditional Chinese instruments lead the melodies.

Mr. Nouri also plays classical guitar and he very much enjoyed the fresh, harmonious sound of the Shen Yun orchestra.

“I think it was very well complemented from both sides,” he said.

“Live performance, upbeat, beautiful. I have a little bit of music background so I can only say they’ve done a fantastic job.”

Overall, Mr. Nouri said he enjoyed the show very much and plans to come again next year with more of his friends.

“Next year for sure I am coming with more than one person, I am coming in a group,” he said.

“Definitely a go.”

Reporting by NTD Television and Cindy Chan

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. The Shen Yun International Company will perform four times 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.