(Clearwisdom.net) CALGARY, Canada--The Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium was the venue for the final Calgary performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts on April 1.
Jordan Tanner, a marketing representative from Canada Life Insurance Company saw Shen Yun for the first time. He bought tickets to the show through his work but admitted that he wasn't sure at the time what to expect. After seeing the show, he said, "It has been wonderful ... the costumes and the stories have been just wonderful."
New York-based Shen Yun brings China's millennia-old traditional culture to the stage through classical Chinese dance and music. Mr. Tanner had never seen this type of dance before.
"It is beautiful! It is incredible what they did."
Ancient legends of heroism, modern tales of courage and folkloric traditions unfold on stage, bringing messages of moral and ethical values.
Mr. Tanner appreciated these stories, saying, "I think the stories have been wonderful ... the value has been great, so we are thrilled."
Jordan Tanner, a marketing representative from Canada Life Insurance Company.
He was impressed with the dance about Falun Gong practitioners who adhere to their belief even when subjected to severe persecution by the Chinese communist regime.
"It is nice to get a perspective on what is really going on in China. I am kind of aware about some of the oppression that exists there still, which is unfortunate. Especially the scene where the mother and the child, that was obviously very intense, but it needs to be pointed out because I think there is still a lot of room to grow in China as far as becoming a more democratic place," he said.
In summing up, Mr. Tanner said, "It is just tremendous, the dance and the coordination of it all, and also just an awareness of what is going on."
"It touches my heart because of its purity, its beauty"
The Lambert family enjoyed Shen Yun's performance. Gerard Lambert, a paving contractor, spoke on behalf of the family when he said, "We loved it."
Mr. Lambert was inspired by Shen Yun, saying, "I feel it was very high. It raises you up. It fills you with beauty, which is very good because we need more beauty in the world."
Mr. Lambert after watching Shen Yun in Calgary
His daughter Teresa could see that the show brought hope and she was particularly touched by "the grace and the purity of intent. It's almost sacred. It's very touching. It connects us to who we are and reminds us what life is really about."
Shen Yun means "divine arts" and China was the land of the divine and Teresa loved that aspect of the show. "I think that everyone can relate to having hardships trying to prevent us from experiencing the divinity in ourselves and in life, so it awakens that and brings us hope, so I like that," she said.
Mr. Lambert said: "I think that the feminine is very much desecrated in our world and I think this raises it up to [a new] level and shows you what it can be and should be, because it is so incredibly beautiful. As a man, I really appreciate that. So when I see this, it touches my heart because of its purity, its beauty."
Teresa also commented on the male dancers, saying, "Amazing, all of them. Even just the technical skills too, the strength-beautiful. Even the things they were doing, the flips. And there was honor-the body language. It was more than just showing off. You could feel that honor, I liked that."
She gave the show a "10 out of 10."
Mrs. Lambert said she also enjoyed the show very much.
"It's an interesting combination of East and West. The instruments and the values being presented are universal values. [Those values being] honor, beauty, and the importance of the divine in our lives."
Sources:
http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32596/
http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/32603/
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
