PHILADELPHIA—Sunday’s performance by Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company at The Merriam Theater was worth the drive for Larry Merighi.
Mr. Merighi, an architect from New Jersey, drove for an hour to see the Jan. 8 New York-based company’s performance.
“I think it’s excellent, we did not know much about it [Chinese culture], I’ve seen some Chinese dance before and heard some music but not in this venue, it’s pretty exciting.”
He added that the athleticism of the performances was impressive.
“It’s very good and I really enjoyed the last piece about Tiananmen Square, the contemporary piece,” he said. “I thought it was kind of nice to see how it relates to the more traditional dance and music and it was very good.
Mr. Merighi, who attended the performance with his wife, also noted the show’s unique digital backdrop.
“I thought the backdrop was very interesting using the graphics and actually having the translation was very nice too, for the tenor and the soprano, to have the translation was very good, on the backdrop.”
Overall, he said he found the message eye-opening.
“It’s very uplifting and it talks about the culture of China,” he said adding that the artistic design was also captivating.
“It’s very nice, it all seems very steeped in tradition but a nice contemporary twist to it which I think is very good.”
Reporting by Sally Sun and Genevieve Long
Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
