SAN FRANCISCO—Shen Yun Performing Arts began its seven-show run in San Francisco at the War Memorial Opera House Tuesday, January 3rd at 7:30 p.m. The company seeks to revive China’s glorious 5,000-year culture through the performing arts, and brings together world-class dancers, choreographers, singers, and musicians from around the world.
Penny Gerbode, her husband Ian McKendry, of McKendry and Associates, a mediation consulting firm in Melbourne, Australia, and their son were among those in attendance at last night’s performance.
Ms. Gerbode had grandparents who owned four seats at the War Memorial Opera House.
“But that was when the opera house first was built,” she said. “I’m a child of the San Francisco Opera House.”
Ms. Gerbode thought the Shen Yun performance was simply marvellous. “This show is just fabulous,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It is just charming—lovely.”
Both Ms. Gerbode and Mr. McKendry thought the show presented “classical dancing” very well. Ms. Gerbode expressed that the dancers were “an extension of the music.”
“They’re beautiful!” she exclaimed.
The various stories presented in the dances were easy to understand, Ms. Gerbode noted, and the performers were magnificent. “It’s very enjoyable, and I’m glad my stepson is enjoying it,” she said.
Mr. McKendry thought the performance’s Chinese history was encapsulated in music and movement and presented in a very accessible and spectacular way.
The couple travels between Marin County and Melbourne, Australia, where they have homes. “We go back and forth a couple of times a year,” Mr. McKendry said. Their son travels with them.
The boy used to learn Chinese at school, and said that he knows quite a lot about Chinese history—and he was happy to see a reflection of his studies in the performance.
“We got that book about the Monkey (King), and the Rock,” he said, referencing the Shen Yun piece “How the Monkey King Came to Be,” which chronicles how the mythical character secured his place in the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West.
“Five stars,” is how the young man summarized the performance.
Shen Yun will be in San Francisco until Jan. 8, 2012. New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts
With reporting by Jan Jekielek and Paul Wilson-Young.
