LOS ANGELES—Shen Yun is “really beautiful … It shows the diversity and beauty of the culture,” said Christina Grammenos at the sold-out matinee of Shen Yun Touring Company at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Jan. 27. Ms. Gammenos, who works in finance at a film studio, attended the performance with Katie McGee, the director of brand marketing and corporate communications at the same studio.
Ms. McGee responded to the music. She said it was “fantastic, actually. The orchestra is excellent, excellent, really great.”
Ms. Grammenos concurred. She said, “Yes, really wonderful.”
The Shen Yun Orchestra is unusual. It combines the spirit, beauty, and distinctiveness of Chinese music with the precision, power, and grandeur of the Western symphony orchestra. The result—two great traditions producing one refreshing sound, according to the Shen Yun website.
A Shen Yun performance also includes vocal solos. Ms. Gammenos said the lyrics a soprano sang helped her learn more about Chinese culture.
“I would say that her pieces are the most educational, when it comes to the culture.” Since she was able to read and understand the words, it helped her “fit all the pieces together.”
Ms. McGee agreed that the evening was an educational experience: “It’s obviously showing the diversity of the country, which I think is important. I’ve never been to China, so it’s certainly beneficial to see from Mongolia [Mongolian Bowl Dance] to the different monasteries [When Shaolin Monks Protected the Emperor], so it’s educational in that way.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company, presenting 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture though story-based dances that bring to life Chinese legends and history.
Ms. McGee said that the dance that stood out the most for her was one that discussed the current persecution of Falun Gong in mainland China [An Unexpected Encounter]. She was pleased to learn more about the spiritual side of Chinese civilization. She said she enjoyed the spiritual content in the performance: “I was certainly surprised to see the Buddhist element of the show, and I really appreciated that.”
Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, a meditation practice guided by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, “has helped over a hundred million Chinese people understand and return to the essence of traditional Chinese culture—Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist schools of thought,” according to Shen Yun’s website.
Reporting by Lu Rusong and Derek Padula.
Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company now travels to Australia where they will perform in Brisbane Feb. 1 to Feb. 3 and then onto New Zealand. Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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