Shen Yun Performing Arts brought 5,000 years of rich Chinese culture to life on stage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Canada, the first week of April.
“The underlying theme of the entire evening was love, joy, and peace. You could feel it, I could feel it in the entire performance. And yet, there were aspects of the performance that were high energy and beautifully inspiring as well,” said Nicky Billou, the founder of eCircle Academy.
“And you could see on their faces, this joy, this love, this fire, this passion. It was magnificent,” he added.
“It’s so colorful and beautiful and vibrant, that was the thing I thought was most striking,” said Joaquin Valdepeñas, a three-time Grammy award nominee and the founding member of Amici Chamber Ensemble.
“The cohesiveness and how together everything is, is flawless. It’s quite impressive,” he added.
“It was so impressive, very exciting. I like the colors of the costumes they were using, all the movements with the flowers and everything. It was very, very impressive,” said Mi Hyon Kim, a violinist.
Shen Yun also travels with a live orchestra, which combines classical Chinese instruments with Western instruments. Here’s what Mr. Valdepeñas, a two-time Juno Award winner, said about Shen Yun’s music.
“The music is very well played, the orchestra is very good. Also the tempo has to be just right for the dancers to dance, that could be tricky. It was terrific, very good,” said Mr. Valdepeñas.
“I really enjoyed how they incorporated the Chinese instruments, because they’re played very well, too. And so it became a mixture of Chinese and Western music together; I think the blend was really well done,” he added.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive China’s traditional culture after communists took control of the country in 1949.
Nicky Billou an author and the co-host of “The Thought Leader Revolution” podcast said he was touched by the underlying values Shen Yun presents and called its mission an act of bravery and courage.
“I myself have always been drawn to the Chinese people, Chinese culture, and reading and understanding Chinese literature and philosophy. It’s something that I think permeated the entire evening. But another thing that permeated the evening was courage, absolute total courage. These are people that are standing up against tyranny, that are standing up against hate, that are standing up against oppression,” he said.
“When the Soviet Union was defeated, that chapter of communism ended and everybody thought that was the end of communism, but it wasn’t, it was just a major part of communism being defeated. Right now, there’s another aspect, another chapter of communism, which is screaming loudly, shouting loudly. And it’s even made its way into many Western countries, these Western countries are from within fighting against this evil tyranny. … And I believe that the people here that put on this brave performance are part of the forces of light that will vanquish the forces of darkness.”
Shen Yun’s 2024 world tour will continue through May.
NTD News, Toronto, Canada
