Former ballerina Chantel Roulston was impressed by the stories told by Shen Yun Performing Arts and described the performance she saw as “artistically beautiful.”
“They are obviously very athletic but they’ve got some beautiful artistry as well,” said Roulston. “They’re trying to give across some Chinese stories to Western audiences that probably wouldn’t usually see these stories. It’s wonderful to see.”
During her 15-year career as a dancer, she worked with performing arts companies such as the Hong Kong Ballet and English National Ballet, and also danced at the closing ceremony for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
“That has been quite eye-opening and really beautifully done, and obviously, it seems like it’s gone from Earth to Heaven or to an outer sphere and back again. The prison scene was quite interesting. A little shocking, which I didn’t think would be in this show tonight, but quite eye-opening. It is quite nice to see the honesty in it,” she said. “It’s an artistically beautiful show, describing the best elements of China.”
For the first time, the Regent Theatre has scheduled ten shows from Feb. 8 to 17, with the four weekend matinee performances only having “limited seats” left at the time of this publication.
Robert Sonnet, a print embellisher, watched Shen Yun on opening night, and resonated with the culture presented on stage.
“Every single part the show is absolutely uplifting and wonderful. I think this whole production really brought that out. The divine will come back, better than it is now. I think that show sort of gives us that kind of message, that the divinity will be restored even greater than it is now,” Sonnet said. “The performers were so exact and talented, and also they put their heart and soul into it, and you could see the joy on their faces as well. So their joy that they experience came across to me, those experiences as well.”
NTD News, Melbourne, Australia
