TOULON, France—The renaissance of Chinese civilization began in the heights of New York in 2006: Shen Yun decided to carry out this mission using classical Chinese dance as a means of expression. Nineteen years later, the company’s eight companies perform for millions; since April 2 this year, it’s Toulon’s turn to welcome Shen Yun.
At Toulon’s Zénith, the world’s premier Chinese classical dance company performed from April 2 to 6.
“It’s extraordinary, extraordinary,” said, Jean-Claude Dmitrieff, president of Socofipat and an insurance broker, after attending the first of six performances in Toulon. “There’s perfection in the movements. The synchronization is fantastic.
“It’s a beautiful choreography and it’s very varied. There’s history, there are beautiful images, and then there’s performance too,” he said.
“It’s really, really beautiful. It’s very technical and it’s almost perfection,” said Annette Dmitrieff, a retired modern languages teacher. “I did a lot of dancing when I was young, so I can totally see the technique being pushed to the limit and to perfection. It’s very enjoyable.”
She noticed “a beautiful state of mind” in the show. The couple identified values of simplicity, joy, kindness and hope during Shen Yun’s performance. Values that, according to Mrs. Dmitrieff, “feel good, especially at the moment.”
“These are the values we need to pass on to the whole world,” Mr. Dmitrieff said. “It’s a message of joy and hope.”
The insurance broker felt “happy” during the two-hour show. His wife experienced the same feeling: “What we felt, or what I felt, was a lot of happiness and joy in front of all these colors.”
“It’s beautiful, it’s joyful. What can I say? We wish life could be like this,” Mr. Dmitrieff said.
On the evening of Wednesday, April 2, the director and founder of a dance school in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, between Marseille and Toulon, was among the spectators, accompanied by two of her students.
The dance teacher found the artists “very aerial, especially the dancers when they start doing their acrobatics, you can’t even hear them fall back down. Even when they do big leaps, you can hardly hear anything. It’s just incredible.”
“And the dancers look like they’re flying. They’re very charismatic, very light, really fluid,” she said.
In addition to being a highly expressive form, classical Chinese dance includes tumbling techniques like flips and leaps, which have inspired sports like acrobatics and gymnastics.
Mrs. Aparicio came to see Shen Yun accompanied by the Dousteyssier family, who love to see other styles of dance. Indeed, the family’s two daughters, Maya and Kiara, dance as pre-professionals. Both are members of the Tataki group, which won the World of Dance 2024 in Los Angeles, a source of pride for their teacher and the world-champion troupe.
The three dancers were inspired by a particular step they noticed during the classical Chinese dance performance.
“At one point, I saw a dancer doing what we call barrel jumps, turning around, putting his hands in several times, they'll start in a row. It inspired me,” said Mrs. Aparicio, who is already thinking of incorporating this step into a future Tataki choreography.
“We were inspired by the same step,” said Maya Dousteyssier, also speaking for her sister. “I thought the choreography in pink, with the kind of veiled sleeves that go up in the air, was very pretty.”
On the subject of Chinese classical dance, the dance school director finds that “it’s very similar to classical dance in France, which is what we know. There are similarities, it’s very aerial, very light. There’s also a lot of grace and a lot of ensemble and synchronicity between them. It’s a pleasure to watch.”
