(Clearwisdom.net)

Curtain call in Philadelphia

Shen Yun’s dance and music performances showcase 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture, through the expert combination of original musical scores, colorful costumes, intricately choreographed movement, and vivid state-of-the-art backdrops.

Choreographer impressed by Shen Yun

Mrs. Liz Fitchett Tillotson, a choreographer, with her daughter, Ms. Priscilla Tillotson, at the Shen Yun performance in Philadelphia, February 23, 2011

A young dancer and her mother, an accomplished choreographer, were at the opening-night performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music on Tuesday.

Mrs. Liz Fitchett Tillotson owns JovoDance, a dance studio located in Langhorne, Pa., together with Scott Jovovich, an award-winning Broadway dancer in New York. The couple’s daughter, Ms. Priscilla Tillotson, 21, has been dancing since she could walk.

Speaking of the precision and stamina displayed by the Shen Yun dancers, Mrs. Tillotson, who has been teaching, coaching, and choreographing for over 22 years, said, “I don’t think I have ever seen it done so well on stage. What they are doing is absolutely beautiful and incredible. The steps are incredibly difficult—a dancer understands that. When the dancers land from a jump, they hit the mark without any extra movement, and they are not fatigued. They look like they didn’t even start dancing yet.”

Chinese classical dance features a wide range of unique postures, technical movements, and difficult tumbling techniques. It is the most comprehensive dance system in the world.

“They make something that is extremely difficult look very easy. They make it appear to the audience as if the audience could get up and do what they are doing. It’s so beautifully done,” Mrs. Tillotson said.

Ms. Tillotson agreed with her mother, calling the difficult execution of the dance movements “just awesome. The females do everything the males do, which is awesome,” the young dancer said.

According to the Shen Yun program book, “Of all the traditional Chinese arts, classical Chinese dance is best able to bring to life the richness and depth of an ancient culture.”

Mrs. Tillotson observed that, in China, different regions have different styles of dance, all relating to their culture. “I’m very impressed! I was often speechless while watching. The colors are amazing. I appreciate the work they are doing because that’s not easy. The colors, the staging, their special effects are incredible.”

She said it was their first experience to see Shen Yun, which was “a great gift to us from my brother and sister-in-law because it has opened up a whole new world for us.” She said that if she had the opportunity, she would definitely bring all of their dance students to see the show.

Artist energized by the performance, “both in heart and spirit.”

Isabelle O’Donnell and Ricardo Estrada

Isabelle O’Donnell and Ricardo Estrada are both painters who take their inspiration from a variety of sources. Wednesday night, February 23, they were inspired by Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“I really liked the sense of heaven and … I think it’s great explaining the diversity of Chinese culture, which people don’t really know about. I liked the colors. As artists, the costumes are just amazing, really beautiful,” said Ms. O’Donnell.

The New York-based Shen Yun boasts three equally-large companies that tour the world simultaneously. Wednesday’s performance at the glorious Academy of Music in Philadelphia was by the Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company.


“I think the dancing is beautiful,” said Mr. Estrada, a Mexican-American artist from Los Angeles.
He said he used to ice dance and ballroom dance. He taught his daughter to dance also—so he could relate to the degree of difficulty of the dances. “I really appreciate the athleticism of both the males and the females, it’s just fantastic,” he said.

Ms. O’Donnell said she felt energized by the performance, “both in heart and spirit. This energy is kind of like humankind, the human spirit,” she added. She reflected that maybe the good energy would inspire Chinese who are suffering from repression in China.

Shen Yun fills art educator with ideas and inspiration

Ms. Brooke Whitaker, education coordinator with the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, was inspired by Shen Yun Performing Arts after seeing the performance in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Shen Yun wrapped up its performances in Philadelphia’s gorgeous Academy of Music on Wednesday, February 23. For art educator Brooke Whitaker, the show delivered beauty, excitement, and inspiration.

Ms. Whitaker is a coordinator in the education department of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes the Academy of Music. The Kimmel Center’s mission is “to operate a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience from throughout the Greater Philadelphia region,” according to its website.

After seeing Shen Yun, Ms. Whitaker said, “I thought it was an excellent educational opportunity, and I can’t wait to take what I have seen back to the Kimmel Center and figure out whether we can incorporate some of this into our educational program. I think there are tons of opportunities,” she said.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier Chinese classical dance and music company. Shen Yun presents authentic, traditional Chinese culture.

Shen Yun’s three touring orchestras combine traditional Western instruments with ancient Chinese instruments like the pipa and erhu. “The result—two great classical music traditions producing one fresh, unexpected sound,” says the Shen Yun website.

Ms. Whitaker enjoyed hearing the Chinese instruments included in the orchestra. She said she would like to know more about the instruments and the dance movements.

She said she was “really fascinated by how acrobatic it [classical Chinese dance] was” and how precise the movements were. “I was really wowed by it. I was really moved by the 'Plum Blossom' dance. I thought it was not only beautiful, but the story behind it—being a symbol for courage—was really inspiring,” she said.

A graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and a passionate believer in making the arts more accessible to communities, Ms. Whitaker highly recommended Shen Yun: “You will never see anything like this anywhere else. This is one-of-a-kind. I have never seen anything like it.”

“I intend to follow up with the presenter and see if there is any opportunity to work with them,” she said. The performance was presented by the Greater Philadelphia Asian Culture Center and the Greater Philadelphia Falun Dafa Association.

Art and culture critic praises Shen Yun

Ms. Goldman, an arts and culture critic for AOL and writer for the Metro newspaper, was in attendance for Shen Yun's opening night at Philadelphia's historic Academy of Music.

“It was the best thing that I’ve ever seen in culture, and I cover culture,” Laura Goldman enthused after watching Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company on Tuesday, February 22. Ms. Goldman, an arts and culture critic for AOL and writer for the Metro newspaper, was in attendance for the show's opening night at Philadelphia's historic Academy of Music. She was awestruck by her experience.

“The costumes, the animation, the scenery, was just incredible. The music! I really had no idea what I was coming to—I previewed it! But I still didn’t know what I was coming to. It was just incredible!” she praised.

Ms. Goldman says the depth, expression, and talent shown in classical Chinese dance is unparalleled in her 10 years of experience writing about the arts. She said that Shen Yun's artists have reached a level in their craft that cannot be compared.

“It was the most expressive opera I’d ever seen ... I knew everything that they were feeling. And I’ve seen ballet, I review ballet, modern dance, all that, but I’ve never seen anything like this.”

New-York based Shen Yun has been taking the world by storm, in a historic cultural revival of epic proportions. With three companies and their orchestras simultaneously touring the globe, Shen Yun will reveal long-lost traditional Chinese culture and dance to nearly one million theatre-goers this year.

Each dance in the show expresses legendary and modern tales from China's 5,000-year culture. A trademark of Shen Yun is its use of innovative digital backdrops, which project stunning images behind the dancers that bring the stories to life.

“With the colors on the screen, I felt like I was in there. I felt like I was in the temple!” she said.

Ms. Goldman has lived all over the world, including Israel and Paris, and has attended many cultural arts events. But she said Shen Yun captivated her most because the dances were so moving, she was transported right into the scene.

“This was extraordinary, really ... their bodies were talking. You could feel it … You felt like, WOW!”

Audience from China: Genuine Chinese traditional culture

Mr. Liu came to the US less than a month ago and said after watching the show, “Shen Yun presents many traditional values, making me feel they are genuine. The show is different from other shows in China. Many shows in China are vulgar or even messy.”

Mr. Liu thought that the unique feature of the Shen Yun show is that it presents Chinese traditional culture in a natural manner, for example, showing men as masculine and women as graceful, which are traditional characteristics.

He mentioned that the music of Shen Yun was utterly charming. Ms. Fan, who came to watch the show with Mr. Liu, also said the show was fantastic. She said, “I was very touched by two programs, “Little Mischievous Monks” and “Our Story.” Shen Yun perfectly presents the grace of Chinese traditional culture.”

Ms. Fan disclosed the fact that she had heard of Shen Yun when she was in China and wanted to see it but had no chance. Finally she got the opportunity to see the show. “I am very excited and happy,” she said.