(Clearwisdom.net) Many of Ottawa's city councillors attended the Shen Yun Performing Arts show at the National Arts Centre on Sunday. All were enthusiastic about the performance.
Ottawa City Councillor Georges Bedard: 'It was awe-inspiring!'
Mr. Bedard represents Ottawa's Rideau-Vanier Ward.
"I was so excited by it last year that this year, when I heard that it was coming back, I wanted to come back and do it again," he said.
"I thought the show was phenomenal. I thought the presentation was extremely well done. The colours were ... radiant. And of course the dancers and music all blended well to give us quite a show, quite a performance. I was extremely pleased."
"To me it was awe-inspiring because what was being presented was something traditional to China and obviously we in Canada are not accustomed to the traditional Chinese presentations, so for me it was an education," he said.
"The whole show was worth seeing, enjoying, and living through, because it was, in many respects, presenting the cultural aspects and it's always good," Mr. Bedard enthused.
City Councillor Jacques Legendre: 'Different and amazing'
Ottawa City Councillor Jacques Legendre at the Shen Yun
Ottawa city councillor Jacques Legendre was among the many that fell under [the erhu's] spell.
"That was great ... It was the first time I heard that instrument [erhu] and I liked it a lot," he said, speaking in French, adding that he was deeply impressed by erhu virtuoso Mei Xuan.
Besides the erhu, Mr. Legendre said he enjoyed the show as a whole as well. "What I also liked is that we saw different cultures inside China, from different regions. Very different from one to the other--the costumes, the gestures of the dances, etc. ... two examples, before the intermission we saw Tibet and after, the Miao village. The whole show was very beautiful, well presented. The female dancers looked very young to me, well at my age, everybody looks very young."
Mr. Legendre said he was also amazed by the colors of the show and the discipline of the dancers. "You could see that they are artists ... you could see they practiced well, and when they cross the stage, they were floating--This was amazing. I also liked the technique they have with the backdrop. They were making characters come down from the sky and go up on stage. That was a well done transition."
"I really enjoyed tonight. It was different and amazing. I really liked it! Really! Bravo. Bravo to everyone!" He finished by saying he would recommend the show. "Come see the show. The opportunity is amazing."
City Councillor Glenn Brooks: Shen Yun is 'Uplifting' and 'Awesome'
Mr. Brooks serves as city councillor to the Township of Rideau
"It was uplifting. It was awesome in the true sense of 'awesome,' and it's something that is going to be very memorable. Certainly I will be back next year to see the new show. Spectacular!" said Mr. Brooks, who attended with his wife Gail Wallace.
Mr. Brooks talked at length about the dance titled 'Astounding Conviction,' where a lone man stands on Tiananmen Square, holding a banner that reads "Falun Dafa is Good." In a scene that has played out in China hundreds of times over the past decade, this peaceful appeal is quickly met with violent suppression as guards tear the banner from his hands and beat him in the process.
"That's the touching part, because you can see that although the individual that we saw in the performance, he has a sense of wellbeing, but he is not able express himself. There are consequences in expressing that sense of freedom [in China]," said Mr. Brooks.
"I think that, as a society here in Canada, we have so much of everything and we tend to forget those people who do not have what we have here and that is freedom. We have freedom of speech, freedom of action, freedom of choice, and there are countries around the world that do not have that. And I think that's a message that was clearly delivered in the performance we saw here today."
He said that message was "absolutely" good for society to be reminded of.
He said he would encourage his friends to come and see the show. When he returns, he said he will be bringing his two sons and their wives to the show with him.
Adapted from:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27801/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27798/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27799/
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
