SAN DIEGO—The mood at San Diego’s Civic Theatre was warm and enthusiastic as the audience gave Shen Yun’s 100 amazing dancers and musicians a standing ovation on July 14.

Shen Yun Performing Arts draws its inspiration from the pages of China’s 5,000 years of history and has dazzled audiences all over the world with its grand dance and music extravaganza. Officially, what the show is about is Chinese classical dance, but don’t think that this is just something like ballet. This show has a great deal of variety, it’s like Broadway, Opera, and Symphony all wrapped up in one.

Susan Tusoon-McNeil, a writer and trainer for a nonprofit organization, came with her husband Jim McNeil. She said: “I didn't know exactly what to expect. A friend saw this show and she didn't even want to tell me. [She said], just go to the experience.”

Both Susan and Jim shared their impressions of the show during the break. They called the performances “great, stunning, graceful, and amazing.”
Classical Chinese Dance

From the program we learn that perhaps no other art form in the world has such strong expressive qualities and diversity of technique as classical Chinese dance. It is not only rich in variation but also immensely rigorous and includes demanding aerial techniques such as jumps, turns and flips.

Jim and Susan were excited and uplifted after the first part of the show. Jim said, “Oh, great performances!”

Susan said: “It is stunning-the costumes, the dance! The dance forms are so complicated, combining acrobatics. The movements are just amazing to me!” Jim added how graceful the dancers’ movements are.

Susan used the word elegance, and said, “The women [dancers] are like little porcelain dolls, yet they are doing these amazing maneuvers. It was just beautiful.”

The couple also liked the animated backdrops, and how they match the colors of the costumes. Jim said, “A lot of detail is in the costumes. That's just really stunning.”

The breathtaking, state-of-the-art digital backdrops at each Shen Yun show bring classical Chinese dance into the 21st century. Each backdrop is custom designed to match a given dance’s story line and costumes. Many of the backdrops are animated.

At the core of every Shen Yun show are spectacular large-scale dances which include ethnic and folk dance with dozens of dancers moving in synchronicity. The vocal soloists of Shen Yun are elite singers who perform throughout the year on many of the world’s greatest stages and have won the acclaim of audiences and critics alike. The New York Company's orchestra draws many of its musicians from renowned ensembles and music schools. The musical scores are all original, and the traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu and pipa complement the classical Western instruments to create a sound that is both dramatic and new.

Jim said the music was a wonderful bonus, and that the music, the dancing, the movement is just very well choreographed.

Story-Based Dances

One of Shen Yun’s trademarks is that the dances are story-based. They give dramatic portrayal to the cherished stories of yesterday and today. Their characters embody the most exalted virtues of Chinese civilization, and convey a message or moral that is still relevant, such as courage, loyalty and compassion.

Commenting on the dances in the first half of the show, Jim said he liked the dance from the heavens, Heavenly Maidens. “It was just so graceful, and they look like angels in their flowing white silk costumes.”

He also liked the Imperial Archers because of the intensity on the faces of the dancers. In this dance young warriors hone their skills on a training field in preparation for battle. In ancient times, mastering archery was a prized skill.

“In some of the other dances you could just see the joy and smiles. It was interesting to see the different facial expressions,” Jim said.

Susan said she liked the dance with the man-eating tiger because of the comedy in it. And she liked that the emcees were coming out to introduce each new dance.

“The combination [of everything] is nice. Really nice, nice things ... I enjoyed every single one in its own way,” she said.

Asked how they would describe the show to their friends, Jim said, “One-of-a-kind, stunning, creative!” And Susan added, “It really takes your breath away. I felt like I've been taken into the heavens or something. It's that powerful."

Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier Chinese dance and music company. Based in New York, Shen Yun is a nonprofit organization that is independent of China’s communist regime. It was established through collaboration of leading artists who seek to revive the authentic 5,000-year-old artistic tradition of China.

The program book’s introduction says: "In presenting an experience that’s altogether pure and beautiful, we aim to capture the substance and spirit of pre-modern China’s classical culture. We would like to think that the show will provide you with not only an artistic feast, but also a greater sense of meaning in life."

With reporting by Alex Li.

Shen Yun Performing Arts will next perform in Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose. For more information about Shen Yun’s world tour visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39336/