Australia: Audiences in Melbourne Entranced By Shen Yun

Chinese Culture Enthusiast: "So warm and Familiar"

On May 25th, Melbourne's State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Centre bore witness to the most masterful revival of ancient Chinese Culture. One of the fortunate audience members was Ms. Li, an artist who takes an interest in the fine arts, dancing, and music.

She was full of praise raving about the "confluence of the colours" in the costumes of the Shen Yun performers. "The performance was extremely good. When I saw the traditional costumes and those backgrounds, I felt it was so warm and familiar," she said.

"Shen Yun used pink and light green, along with white - and actually, in nature there is precisely this type of colour arrangements. The colours of nature are bright, and children love that color, which is so vivacious, so full of sunshine, so clear and optimistic, and natural.

"The odd thing is that in this adult world of ours, black is the most common colour."

She was also very impressed by the dancing, "They are diligent, and throw themselves into it. I have some familiarity with the traditional ethnic dances of many cultures; those in the tropics are different to those in frigid areas, for example. The dances of colder areas usually have bigger movements, whereas in warmer places the scope of movement is smaller. The land of China is vast and extensive, so the dances of the north and south are all different. In the dances of Shen Yun, one can see this clearly displayed."

Ms. Li, who adores traditional art, studied dance in her childhood, including ballet and Chinese classical dance. She explained that the movements of traditional Chinese dance are extremely good for the human body, and that they can help keep it fit. She still teaches dance.

Mainland Chinese Exchange Student: "Just Great"

Kevin, who declined to be photographed or give his last name, is a Chinese exchange student. He has been outside of Mainland China for about six months. "Being able to see a traditional Chinese dance performance overseas has made me quite excited."

"I very much like traditional Chinese dance," he said. "Many of Shen Yun's dances made a deep impression on me, for example that of the Miao ethnicity, the Tibetan dance, and Mongolian dance etc. They all had strong ethnic flavour and characteristics, and were excellently representative. They took the essence of Chinese ethnic dance, that whole great culture, and fused it with dance - for example, Wu Song Battles the Tiger, just great."

He continued: "That backdrop design is incredibly original, and it's nothing like the simple backgrounds I have seen previously. Furthermore, from start to finish, we were presented with different imagery. The backdrop design was new and original, and according to each dance the audiences eyes were guided toward different vistas. For example, the Great Wall of China, beautiful snowcapped mountains, and so on. It takes your imagination and merges it into that realm."

"I loved the whole bright-colored spectacle. Shen Yun's lighting, costumes, and design were all very good. The costumes were a highlight. Their colours shone under the lights, and that brightness seemed to fit perfectly."

Regarding the live orchestra, Kevin said: "The music was very good. I could tell that there was orchestral accompaniment. I felt it. They coordinated excellently, the dancers and musicians, like a mutual understanding."

Sources:

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/36148/

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/36154/