United Kingdom: Great Praise from Members of the Audience After the Gala Spectacular in London

Several members of the audience expressed their feelings to reporters after the third sold out Shen Gala Spectacular show in London on 23rd February, 2008.

Jack Huang, an ethnic Chinese in his seventies from North London said, “The show is pretty good, even better than the traditional shows before the CCP took power”. He particularly enjoyed the 'Water Fairy' act and he thought the computer generated backdrop was brilliant and brought out the colours vividly. He loved the long silk costumes and the dance with the Tibetan girls. “It would be great if the curtains were never brought down” said he with a smile.

Ellen Winterslow is a drummer teacher from south London. She said, “The show was brilliant, especially the Water Fairy and Mongolian Bowl Dance. The visual colour is fantastic". She noticed that the dancers were holding the bowls on their heads until they all went backstage which was true professionalism. She felt sorry for the traditional culture lost in China, and said it was “lovely to see the traditions being revived.” She also said that generally a show does become complacent after a while, but in this show, every dance is new, fresh and full of energy. The introduction from the two bilingual presenters made the story line very clear. “It was vibrant, elegant and outstanding.” she said.

Steven Li and his bride received two tickets as a wedding present. He felt the show represent the traditional Chinese culture well, it was handled in a very nice way. “The show is different from other shows, a lot more free thinking than I expected ... It was well worth the journey.” He also mentioned that since the show was not from mainland China, but from New York, it also reflects the international love for Chinese traditional culture.

Anthony Wang, an IT consultant, said the show represents the Chinese folklore well. He had seen some of the shows in Sydney before and they are all colourful and fantastic.

Sanjita Sahi is an Indian student in business studies. She described the show as “Perfect, artistic and musical.” She felt it was different from other shows, because she could understand this without knowing the Chinese language. She liked the Fan Dance particularly and she would definitely go again if the show is staged next year.