SAN FRANCISCO—For designers William Grey and Cynthia Brush, Shen Yun Performing Arts was the perfect way to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
“Oh it’s fabulous,” said Mr. Grey, who has been drawing his entire life. “The costuming, you know, and the weaving in of the culture and the inspiration. Boy, I didn’t know what to think initially. I really liked it a lot. Both of us did.”
“I love the fact that cultural, traditional dances are integrated along with classical dances. I could see that,” said Mrs. Brush, who has an extensive background in fine arts.
The New York-based company came together in 2006 with the mission of reviving China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture through traditional arts like song and dance.
Mr. Grey is quite familiar with the spirituality of the culture. “We also have studied Tai Chi for over 10 years and we also are very long time meditators and we love Chinese culture,” he says. “I loved the architecture, the textiles, the art, the gardening, and so I just felt that—and we love music and singing and dance and so I just felt it would be the perfect way to celebrate things that both of us really enjoy.”
“We’ve been meditating for 40 years,” Mr. Grey said. “That’s how we live.”
Mrs. Brush related to the cultural themes of “destiny, reincarnation, that goodness will prevail in the end which sometimes it doesn’t look like that now in these days.”
“We’re always glad to see a message like that brought into a public performance,” Mrs. Brush said.
And as artists, no detail in the textures and colors of the elaborate handmade costumes escaped Mr. Grey and Mrs. Brush.
“I thought it was just fantastic—I loved the costuming, the colors. I like how the men’s costumes are not so limited. There’s a lot of creativity and the use of the flowing textiles,” Mrs. Brush said.
Nearly a thousand separate pieces of attire and props are made for each of Shen Yun’s three touring companies, and all new costumes are designed each year.
“I loved the phoenix fairies and I loved the flowers from heaven. I loved the spinning fans that look like blossoms. It was great. It was just lovely,” Mrs. Brush said.
“We loved all the cloudy effects of the fairies and the spirits being in the heavens,” Mrs. Brush said. “We thought that was wonderful.”
“The way it was presented and [the] inspiring thoughts and feelings behind and the performance was amazing,” Mr. Grey said.
Reporting by Gary Wang and Catherine Yang.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is performing in San Francisco, at the SHN Orpheum Theatre, March 20-24. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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