(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts delighted Ms. Zayarny, an accomplished pianist and college instructor who came with her friend, a visual artist, to the performance held Sunday at the Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, Canada.

Ms. Zayarni,an accomplished pianist, and her friend, a visual artist

Having seen the show the previous year, Mrs. Zayarny was very happy to be back. She said, "The music was wonderful. The orchestra is very professional, and as a pianist I would say your accompanist was really good."

While Mrs. Zayarny is relatively unfamiliar with the two-stringed erhu, a traditional Chinese instrument known for its stirring, melancholic sound, she said, "A very interesting sound, I really liked it!"

Her friend, a visual artist, also greatly enjoyed the show. "I'm an artist so I'm inspired by the visual part of it. It was all visual and beautiful. It was very, very, visually stimulating but very beautiful. I want to paint them all," she said happily.

Both Mrs. Zayarny and her friend were touched, "The message that I got at the end, everything is going to be okay because we are all going to go to heaven. If we maintain our dignity we are all going to go to heaven - positive news!" said her friend. Ms. Zayarni agreed. "It's nice to know there is help, so there is hope. The good forces always win, good always overcomes evil!"

Ms. Twitty, a soprano singer, came with her husband, "I've never seen anything like this before."

Ms. Twitty explained that because she is a trained "coloratura soprano, one of those 'squeaky' ones, way up high, about a middle C," it gave her a greater depth of appreciation for the show. She enjoyed the colours and costumes. "They're beautiful. The whole atmosphere just creates a wonderful feeling."

She noted the grace with which the dancers performed each piece. "The wonderful smoothness of what they're doing is just really, really marvelous."

Mr. Twitty agreed, adding, "They way they flow across [the stage,] back and forth. ... And the way they bring the people off the screen and they come out the back--that is really something, [that] really, really impressed me," referring the backdrops.

He went on to describe the opening scene of "The Five Millennia Begin" as "amazing" and "tremendous," particularly "the costumes and the history. You could see the history."

"It's just wonderful to know the heritage that [the Chinese] had and that it's being preserved. I think that's very important, because so often the heritage is shoved to one side and people forget it. I think that's really wrong," said Ms. Twitty.

Mrs. Sumen, a former ballet dancer who now owns a ballet school in Calgary, attended the show on Monday evening with her husband, a geologist.

"It was beautiful, very graceful, a nice group showing very good discipline. I liked the costumes, the beautiful energy," she said.

Mrs. Sumen is originally from Europe, where she earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts and danced with a national ballet company as a leading soloist for 16 years. She attended the Royal Ballet School of London and later furthered her study of choreography and teaching with another ballet in Austria. She has also been honoured with a Canadian award for her outstanding contribution to the arts and culture of Canada through her work as a dancer and teacher.

"They are also bringing a nice story. It's very clearly giving messages, and their acting was good too," said Mrs. Sumen.

Mr. Sumen said the performance also endeavours to "combine the old and the new work of China."

"I wasn't expecting that both west and east are going to be combined really beautifully like that, because I recently listen to Chinese instruments only," he said.

Ms. Resek, a country music singer from Calgary, was in the audience at the show on Monday evening. She saw the show last year and "had to come back this year because it is a fantastic show."

"I thoroughly enjoyed it again, amazing show. Beautiful costumes, great choreography, music, just everything was very professional," she raved.

Ms. Resek has a long history of music in her family. She became interested in singing and started performing at the age of seven.

Impressed with the skill and control of tenor Tian Ge in his solo performance of "Not Looking Back," Ms. Resek described him as "perfect," and a "very strong, powerful singer." "He's amazing... beautiful, beautiful singing, amazing voice. I loved that. The notes he hits, the pitch, perfect performance."

He has "amazing control," she added. "I could hear him. He could really project the voice, the emotion, and maintain control all at the same time. I was really impressed."

Ms. Resek was also touched by the way he could express his inner feelings so accurately within the song. "The feeling he actually felt, he brought forth through this song. The emotion of the message he was trying to carry, if you read the lines and subscript, you could follow the story and understand the message that he brought through his music with his voice. It all came together and he delivered it very well."

Ms. Resek noted, "A lot of the performances told a specific story on hope or divine ideas, and every story was different in talking about the spirit and the hope and divine intervention. So it was very unique that way because the costumes could tell the story. Even if you may not have seen the words, you could still feel it through the language, through the dance, or the movements."

She saw the deeper message of "hope and new life" in the dance "Welcoming Spring," "Uplifting, hope, truth, compassion, and all of it, the way it was brought together really made you see and feel it... Very moving."

She also appreciated the music, especially the erhu, "It was amazing to hear so many notes come out a two-stringed instrument. The sounds and the rhythm and the tone made me feel very peaceful."

The harmonization between the orchestra and the dancers was another aspect of the show that impressed Ms. Resek. "Very professional, smooth sound all together, not soft, just perfect range, [and] loudness." The choreography on stage synchronized with the orchestra in "perfect timing." "They were one unit. You could tell they were very professionally done, everybody together."

Ms. Resek also "loved the arrangements of the groups coming together in different forms and shapes on stage." And the athletics were "amazing. Good shape, tumbling across the stage and keeping in sync, in time with the music, not out of sync."

"Just a fantastic show," Ms. Resek said.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/15311/
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