MISSISSAUGA, Ontario—Lisa Hartsink admired how all the artists of Shen Yun Performing Arts had worked in sync to create something beautiful.
“It was absolutely lovely. We loved the costumes. Everybody was so beautiful. The music. It was really, really well done,” said Ms. Hartsink, a luxury realtor, after seeing the March 23 performance at the Living Arts Centre. “It’s just the skill level of the dancers and all the fact that so many of them were in unison when they did everything. Like, nobody was out of place. The animation in their faces. I just loved it.
Ms. Hartsink said she had known little about the traditional Chinese culture, a divinely inspired culture, and appreciated the artists’ efforts to bring this to the world.
“It was really good to tell that story, too,” she said. “And it’s nice to see people appreciating music and the culture.”
Iris Rudas, a financial advisor, was also happy for the opportunity to learn more about the once-nearly-lost culture.
“Oh, they’re beautiful. Oh, every performance, every play is beautiful,” she said.
“During the news, you see something else, but in the culture part, that part, we don’t see it. So, that is one of the things that allow us to drive us to come back, right? And that way we, you know, learn more. We came, my husband, my daughters, so we really enjoyed that,” she said. “And to your point, the brutality, what is happening, is a teaching moment ... the brutality that I cannot believe that it is still happening. And in this century is still happening. And, you know, mostly people, they don’t know that.”
“I love it because it’s the way that we are right now, increasing our awareness,” she said. “I didn’t know the original tradition ... the Chinese have.”
It’s one the oldest cultures in the world, Ms. Pardo added, and she loved having the opportunity to see it brought to life.
“With love, we can change the world, no? So, we can heal not only our body, our mind, our body and transform our hearts,” she said.
Ms. Pardo said she believed many people in the world right now are looking for meaning and something deeper and that Shen Yun can help people tap into that, to “go to deep inside.”
“Go and see it, and you will feel it. So, it’s beautiful because it’s a message through the dance. And it’s very rewarding to see it,” she said.
