COSTA MESA, Calif.—Mr. Rick Eisleben holds season’s tickets at the charming Segerstrom Center for the Arts. He attended Shen Yun Performing Arts on the evening of Jan. 11; the production left a profound impression on him.
“This really was the show of the season for us. Of all the dance shows, this one surprised me and delighted me because of all the characteristics of the show,” he said.
Mr. Eisleben resides at Newport Beach. He is a producer, writer, and director and works mainly on documentaries, which cover a wide array of subjects, and is a part of the reason he has traveled to 57 countries. He also owns his own company.
Mr. Eisleben praised the producer of Shen Yun, saying: “Allow me to compliment the producer of the show, not only for pulling together all the elements, with some exceptionally talented people—the dancers, the lighting, the computer generator, whoever created that, the orchestra and the instruments, the score, the choreography, the direction, the lighting—all of that, all of those elements. Just to make a good show is difficult for a producer, and they succeeded very, very highly on that.
“But even more so to me, the producer should be congratulated for taking the bold step of presenting this show. I really thought that was fabulous. He took the concept, he saw a need or saw a potential need to present Chinese culture in the most favorable light and entertaining way.”
Based in New York-based, Shen Yun Performing Arts is an elite classical Chinese dance and music company with a mission to revive and restore the majestic traditional Chinese culture, which has been all but been completely destroyed through the Cultural Revolution. However, the deeper spiritual core of the ancient culture with its values of benevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom and sincerity, as well as a reverence for the gods and the heavens, cannot be destroyed, according to the Shen Yun mission statement.
Every aspect of the performance was deeply appreciated by Mr. Eisleben. “(The) dancing, was exceptionally good, the ladies were lovely, the perfection of the dance impressed me a lot,” he said.
“The male dancers, fabulous; they were so physical, very impressive. … I’m so glad that it was written in the show that the whole gymnastics concepts come from the classical Chinese dance. I never thought of that, I never knew it, but I could see why dance is an expression of physicality and joy.”
“I particularly liked the costumes,” said Mr. Eisleben. “I think they added a lot to the visual presentation of the show. The costuming I thought was exceptionally good.”
“I was totally impressed with how the blend of pastel colors were so nicely rearranged for each number so that every number had their own character, their own style.”
The subtly of the vignettes did not escape Mr. Eisleben. “I enjoyed the snowflake number [Snowflakes Welcoming Spring]. That was amazing, with the snowflakes, how they were handling them and then throwing them to one another. Ah, brilliance! The last one comes in with green, it’s spring, and the snow’s melting. I loved that! That’s creative, that’s artistry, it had a lot of that in the show. That’s beautiful. That made it a special moment.”
“There are all these little gems during the show that cause you to go, “Ooh!” Always in constant surprise. … [the] show had a lot of surprises in it which kept the audience’s interest all the way through!”
Those “magical windows” of the backdrop provided even more excitement for Mr. Eisleben. He said: “The moments of the show that brought a twitter in the audience was when the computer animation interfaced with the live presentation. When a character would drift down from heaven on a cloud, and then appear on stage … Very, very clever.”
“I enjoyed it because it was a blend of high tech and high artistry. The dancing was so beautiful in a traditional way, and the technology that [they] were using was great.”
Shen Yun has two bilingual emcees who are guides into each of the segments, something Mr. Eisleben spoke highly of. “I enjoyed the master of ceremonies and his assistant too. … They were our host and hostess; they were very beautiful and gracious.”“The vocalists were wonderful too! … They’re very, very talented”, Mr. Eisleben said.
“I enjoyed seeing the stringed instrument do a solo, because that is so different than instruments we have,” he commented. Mr. Eisleben was referring to the erhu, a two-stringed Chinese instrument with a 4,000-year history, capable of eliciting a wide range of emotions with its incredible sound.
“The dance, the spirituality, the conflict presented on the stage, it would be good for those of us here in the U.S. to understand a little bit more of that. So I’m very pleased that the company did that … and I applaud the producer, or production company that said, “Why don’t we do this?” It’s not just a recital of some good dancers; there was social commentary in there about China,” explained Mr. Eisleban.
“For those of us in the audience, we were being dipped in a bath of wonderful Chinese culture, and pulled out. We were enriched by it, because it sort of becomes part of us as we see it on the stage.
“The idea of doing that I think is wonderful. I hope they do more of that,” he added.
“I enjoyed music. I have a musical background. I also had a love for classical music. The music styles are completely different from American, of course, but I really enjoyed that. … I particularly like something that is so contrary, so different, so unusual to the ear, that it stimulates emotions. I heard that from the orchestra.”
“This show was very, very special. This show was so perfect, from top to bottom!”
In concluding, Mr. Eisleben described what he saw as the message of the Shen Yun performance. “The overall message was, ‘Look at this culture, enjoy this culture, be enriched by the Chinese culture.’ It is full, it is something that is blessed, that you could reach out to and fill yourself with.”
“It’s a big message, and it wasn’t direct, but that’s what it said to me,” he said.
Reporting by Yang Jie and Cheryl Casati
New York-based Shen Yun has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will next perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, San Diego, Jan. 19-22.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
