(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is playing in Geelong for the first time. The curtain opened again on Saturday afternoon, April 4, to a full house. A few days before the show, it had already been hard to get a ticket. The packed audience gave long applause as the curtain opened on the first magnificent scene, and at the end of the show everyone left slowly and reluctantly as the curtain closed on a unique portrayal of traditional Chinese culture.
The audience at Costa Hall in Geelong
Mainland Chinese: 'I cried from start to finish'
Among those who watched the show, a young lady was especially grateful to be
in the audience.
Ms. Liu, a nurse from Shandong Province who came from China one month ago,
attended the Shen Yun show carrying her young daughter in her arms.
She was deeply and visibly touched. "Living in China so many years, I've
never come across such a moving performance. I didn't even know Chinese
culture contained such wonder and beauty. Also, from this performance one can
really get that feeling, the inner meaning that dance can bring out. I cried
from start to finish. The lyrics also brought out something very deep inside me,
I found that straight-from-the-heart sort of truth," said Ms. Liu.
She commented on the dance about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners [Heaven
Awaits Us Despite Persecution]: "Falun Gong practitioners, in the cold
wind and harsh sun are explaining the truth of their situation to people, but
people don't understand. They have had their families broken through
persecution. This has happened to my friends in China. I never thought I'd see
such a performance outside China, I'm incredibly moved. I know there is
another performance on tonight, I'm thinking of coming to see the show
again."
'Extremely terrific performance'
Another student from mainland China, Mr. Li, an IT exchange student, attended
the matinee of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour on April 4.
"This is my first time seeing a performance like this. The first thing I
felt was the visual energy and power of the performance. Secondly, through
watching this performance, it has helped me remember some history that I had
forgotten, some true historical stories," he said.
Summing it up, Mr. Li said, "I feel this is an extremely, extremely
terrific performance. From the performance I also saw how the Chinese Communist
Party persecutes ordinary citizens, and this leads me to ponder.
"I also see that these performers are all very young, but all so professional, talented, and excellent. The other thing I paid special attention to was their facial expressions. I can really understand that kind of sincerity they have, that kind of straight-from-the-heart sincerity."
Classical Chinese Dancer Lavishes Praise on Shen Yun
Mr. Chang was in his element when discussing Chinese dance. (The Epoch Times)
Mr. Chang, trained in classical Chinese dance, will be performing with the
world-renowned Cirque du Soleil in Melbourne on Thursday, April 9, and
was delighted he had the opportunity to watch Shen Yun in Geelong. His personal
experience has given him a good understanding of the artistic accomplishment of
the Shen Yun company.
He described how he participated in New Tang Dynasty Television's dance
competition held last year in New York, and spoke with a performer from the Shen
Yun company while there. Watching the performance brought back familiar feelings
and memories, and he praised the company for bringing the beauty of Chinese
dance to the world.
"They train very hard. I've been to New York and met them. They work hard
without complaining. They are melding into Chinese dance itself, to bring the
beauty of Chinese dance to the whole world--because Shen Yun is a global
performance company, they're giving the elegance of Chinese dance to the
world, letting more people see the beauty of China. This is a divine activity.
"My favourite might be the Mongolian dance [Mongolian Chopsticks]
and the Tibetan dance [Dance of the Snow-Capped Mountain], because these
are typical tastes from the very original dancing of Chinese culture ... You can
see all the joy on the dancers' faces, they are really into it," he said,
smiling.
Mr. Chang was in his element when discussing Chinese dance and was happy to
share his thoughts further. "Chinese dance itself has its own unique
feeling of beauty, its way of moving the body, its own bearing, its own innate
sort of cultural meaning. It fully brings out these Chinese cultural aesthetics.
It's not just beautiful because it's beautiful, but the 5,000 years of
Chinese civilization has so much inner content, with ups and downs, and all
sorts of setbacks [that can be drawn on].
"I saw how ... they have given expression to these legendary stories, like Mulan, Yue Fei, and these stories that have the national hero feel about them. They brought these legends out again today. For example, in The Monkey King Triumphs--that was vivid and vigorous.
"When they were introducing this story, asking questions to the audience, many young children all yelled out 'Monkey King!' so everyone felt some resonance with this tale. Everyone already knowing about this is excellent, no matter whether they are inside or outside of China.
"Through their efforts, they have given a perfect presentation of the aesthetics and beauty of China... because there's no way to present this whole 5,000 years of our Chinese civilization in just one night, so I know Shen Yun is always working so hard, doing this year after year."
Mainland Chinese Take Tour to Attend Shen Yun
With 2009, its third year in Australia, Shen Yun had already developed a
solid reputation in the community. As a result of word-of-mouth from previous
performances in Melbourne, this year many people came from Victoria's capital
to Geelong for the performance.
Many, including a good proportion of Chinese people, came as part of a Shen Yun
"one day tour," where originally only one bus was organized, but two
more were added when demand exceeded supply. One hundred and fifty people took
the journey from Melbourne to Geelong, passing through Werribee, stopping for
lunch, and then coming to see Shen Yun. They were happy with their journey, and
enthralled with the performance. Many of them went out of their way to make
clear that they felt it was worth the trip, and that they'd tell their friends
and family for next year.
Ms. Liang and her partner came from Zhejiang Province in China to Melbourne
to work on their Masters' Degrees. On April 4, they took the tour to see Shen
Yun Performing Arts.
They were asked what made them decide to come along and see the show. "[The
advertisements] said this performance was very refined, moving, and displayed
China's most traditional, upright culture, so I wanted to come and take a
look," Ms. Liang explained.
"Seeing it, I feel that it's really moving. That kind of really elegant
dancing, I feel that is something for us to appreciate. I'm expecting there
will be even more exciting programs in the next half!" she shared at
intermission.
Her partner, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Mulan was his favourite
program. He said that he also enjoyed the dancing very much.
A mainland Chinese who had recently arrived and who did not wish to be
identified said, "This sort of performance would be banned in the mainland,
and we'd never get a chance to see this kind of thing, absolutely not. It's
the Chinese [outside the mainland] who have to carry this forward."
Ms. Liu, her friend, was willing to give her name and speak. She had been in
Australia for two years, and had similar feelings. "Chinese classical dance
allows Westerners to appreciate the essence of Chinese culture. Performing it
here, it feels different--but these works can give Westerners an insight into
our culture. They can all understand it, so this display is already perfect. It
also makes us Chinese very proud!"
The guiding mission of Shen Yun Performing Arts is to rediscover and renew
humanity's true, rightful cultural heritage. The company thus creates and
performs works that center upon the true, divinely bestowed culture of
humankind.
Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14772/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14786/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14785/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14778/
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts