(Clearwisdom.net) The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, a major performing arts venue in Toronto, Canada, was the proud host of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Company on January 13-16, 2011.
Acclaimed Canadian Artist and Order of Canada Member: “It’s a visual feast!”
Charles Pachter (L), an acclaimed Canadian painter, brought his friend, art critic Paul Russell to enjoy a visual feast at Shen Yun's Friday night performance at Sony Centre for the Performing Arts.
Charles Pachter, one of Canada’s leading contemporary artists and member of the Order of Canada and the Chevalier of France Order of Arts and Letters, attended the show with arts critic Paul Russell.
Mr. Pachter, who holds honorary doctorates from Brock University and the Ontario College of Art & Design, loved the show and suggested that everyone “Come and see.”
“It’s an introduction to Chinese culture, [that] you won’t get anywhere else ... beautifully performed and beautifully presented, and it’s sumptuous. It’s very attractive to watch. It’s a visual feast!” he exclaimed.
Mr. Pachter referred to the performers' high-level of artistic talent as a “discipline.”
“The rhythm, the grace, the harmony, the colors, the dedication to the dance, the athletic prowess, the athletic skill—this is a discipline,” he said. “You can tell these people are very disciplined. They work hard but they make it look easy.”
“Their technique is excellent,” remarked Mr. Pachter. “They have terrific precision, working as a group. They’re very well-trained, you can obviously see that. And the energy level is terrific.”
Mr. Pachter was also very impressed by Shen Yun's animated backdrop, saying, “It’s the sound, movement, it’s painting in the background, it’s a summary of all those things,” he explained.
Shen Yun's mission is to restore traditional Chinese culture through story-based dance and classical Chinese art forms.
“It’s very faithful to the old mythologies and the old stories,” Mr. Pachter noted, adding, “very spiritual.”
Paul Russell said that the traditional Chinese culture was “...excellently portrayed and excellently interpreted.” “Very fine choreography and lavish computer-generated imagery, which is something very fine. And the orchestra is very good too.”
In discussing the Shen Yun Orchestra, Mr. Russell noted, “I think it’s a fusion of Western orchestration with Chinese music. It was very interesting. I liked it.”
Mr. Russell said that watching Shen Yun gave him an understanding of the essence of Chinese culture.
“From watching this, I had a sense of it ... nothing I could articulate, but a sense of the sound, a sense of the movement, a sense of the stories are all about enlightenment, and you could follow that,” he said.
Both men enjoyed the piece entitled, "Little Mischievous Monks," a fun dance set depicting young monks who indulge in play while the head abbot is away.
“It was fun, amusing, and mischievous, and that’s always fun,” said Mr. Russell.
“That was wonderful,” Mr. Pachter agreed. “That was fun.”
Emmy-award winning journalist and power attorney praise Shen Yun
Angelo MacDonald, a well known lawyer, and Mary Garofalo, an acclaimed investigative journalist, took pleasure in Shen Yun Performing Art's display of classical Chinese dance at Sony Centre Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
Angelo MacDonald, a well known criminal trial lawyer, attended the show with Mary Garofalo, an acclaimed investigative journalist and anchor on FOX [News] Investigates.
She has claimed six Emmy Awards and has been nominated for dozens of other awards.
Mr. MacDonald is the principal of the MacDonald Law Firm and a former Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office. He has appeared regularly as a commentator on Court TV, MSNBC, and FOX News.
Both said they loved the show.
“I thought the show was fantastic! Very colorful, very talented, and just really inspiring,” said Mr. MacDonald.
Ms. Garofalo agreed. “It was spectacular. It’s a history lesson sort of encompassed in this beautiful art form: dance, wonderful costumes, and great music. It was terrific.”
Ms. Garofalo noted two distinct aspects of the dancers' demeanor.
“They were your proverbial, stoic, consummate professionals, with that contained non-emotion until the scenes that had emotion. Then they sort of opened up and let loose in those scenes,” she said.
Due to the large Chinese population in Toronto, she found it easy to overlook the deeper cultural heritage of the Chinese people, which Shen Yun so masterfully portrayed.
“It’s really nice to have delved into history, culture, music, and have it all in one place for all of us to enjoy. It was truly nice. I learned a lot tonight ... quite spectacular.”
Mr. MacDonald especially liked the dance set, "Manchurian Elegance," saying, “I thought it was just really visually beautiful. The dancers seemed happy, like they enjoyed themselves.”
He described the Shen Yun orchestral music as “really nice—a nice mix of both the Westernized instruments and Asian instruments.”
“It was really good. I liked the woman [Xiaochun Qi] who played the two-stringed instrument [erhu]. That was spectacular. I thought she was amazing,” he said.
“I think it’s a great show for everyone to see. I think everyone will enjoy it,” said Mr. MacDonald.
“It was fun. We had a really great time,” added Ms. Garofalo.
Music professor: “I was mesmerized!”
Dr. Kay Hartwig, a music professor at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia
Dr. Kay Hartwig, a music professor at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, one of the most influential universities in the Asia-Pacific, was also in the audience.
“The music is wonderful, the costuming, the dance it’s really very alive. I love it,” she said.
Dr. Hartwig said that she was glad to see that Shen Yun featured a live orchestra of both Western and traditional Chinese instruments.
“That’s wonderful," she said of the combination. "We are very multicultural in Australia, Canada and many other places. This is what the young people are growing up with—a fusion of our cultures—and I think this is a wonderful portrayal of that today.”
One aspect of the show that particularly stood out to her was the precision of the performances.
“From the costumes, the lighting, the announcers, the music—everything is so precise, and that’s what I really like. It’s a very professional show,” she said.
The dancing also impressed her.
“I am very involved in dance with a ballet school in Queensland and I was thinking how much the principal dance instructor would have loved to see this show.”
“The lines are so beautiful, everything is so well put together. The technique is really lovely,” she enthused.
Dr. Hartwig was captivated from the very first dance, which depicted the Creator inviting divine beings to follow him to earth and establish the world’s cultures.
“That was just an exquisite start to the show and I was mesmerized from then on,” she said.
After seeing the show, she pondered, “The world is very small and we are a multicultural world—and wouldn’t it be lovely if we could respect and live in peace throughout the whole world and enjoy each others’ culture?”
University of Toronto associate dean: “Very entertaining and very educational”
University of Toronto academics Liang-Hsuan Chen and Louis Florence at Friday's performance
Liang-Hsuan Chen and Louis Florence, two University of Toronto professors, were also in attendance.
“Very creative, very entertaining, and very educational … I think it is great,” said Ms. Chen, Associate Dean at the university’s Scarborough campus and a political candidate for Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party.
Mr. Florence, a Department of Management lecturer at the university’s Mississauga campus, and former president of his own software training firm for 12 years, called Shen Yun “inspiring, beautiful, entertaining, colorful.”
Born in Taiwan, Ms. Chen said some of the stories depicted in Shen Yun were among her favorite classic tales as a child.
“It is educational and the stories that we learned when we were kids, like the Monkey King story ... It is educational, that is for sure,” she said.
She commented on how skillfully the modern animated backdrops brought ancient stories to life.
“I think it is very interesting, especially the incorporation of the background, the pictures, just very, very creative,” she praised.
Mr. Florence admitted he is “very much attached” to Chinese culture, and appreciates Shen Yun’s efforts to revive this lost heritage.
Mr. Florence said that Shen Yun reminded him of the importance of freedom.
He was referring to several dance sets that depicted life in modern China and the faith and courage that many Chinese people exhibit in pursuing their basic rights and freedoms under Communist rule.
“The show reminds me how beautiful the world can be and the problems that we have to surmount and difficulties that people face to be free, to enjoy their lives, to live their lives as they wish,” he said.
“It is an important message. I think the show brings out that message in an entertaining way, in a lively and in an appropriate way.”
Dr. Chen agreed. “I think that’s a good message. I feel that people should still have the right to express themselves, and it’s a human right.”
