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“I am accountant and I deal with books, I am running my own business,” he began, “Today was just a wonderful experience and I won't forget it.”
Mr Scalata explained that he had not been to China but had always related to Chinese culture and had wanted to see a show that depicted the things he loved about China. Shen Yun had done that, he said.
“Tonight I thought it was … a beautiful Journey to China, absolutely beautiful China. This is the China I like”.
Mr. Scalata is originally from Italy and has a strong sense of traditional culture and the values that go with it.
He said he was sad for Chinese people and the way China’s traditional culture had been “masked over” but he was given hope after seeing Shen Yun.
“Seeing it [Shen Yun] tonight, that is what I like to see but we don’t see it officially from China, and that to me is not right,” he said.
“The show just goes to a different style.. different scenario and colours, and the different varieties of dances … absolutely wonderful,” he said adding
“This is what everybody enjoys. You can actually have a relation with it, the beautiful dance, the colours, just the purity and love of it.”
Mr. Scalata said he and Mrs. Scalata had found Shen Yun’s performance “very spiritual.”
“We understand and feel that in the show very much. That was good, a very good message.”
Julia Scalata agreed explaining that the scenes depicting modern China and the types of persecution practitioners of Falun Gong experience today were very moving.
“The persecution part in the show did touch me. You can see the expression, how much it hurts them, how much pain there must be inside,” she said adding, “But we don’t get to see that.”
Mr. Scalata had been a ballet dancer in her youth and has a background in music and was particularly impressed with the musicians and the dancers.
“I can feel the music, highs and lows, with some points I felt like crying, because it was so moving and very emotional”.
“You got caught up in the emotion when you see what is going on and what is happening. Yes, it was lovely,” she said.
Mr. Scalata said he had found the Shen Yun Orchestra “just wonderful” with its unique combination of Chinese and Western classical instruments.
“It was good, a beautiful of combination of sound,” he said adding that he and Julia had a son who was studying music and university.
“He also writes and composes music. He would like to be here and watch the show as well … what we heard tonight was wonderful.”
With his Italian background, Mr. Scalata said he could relate to vistas of Chinese landscapes depicted through the Shen Yun backdrops saying: “the beautiful colour of the countryside in the backdrop. … Absolutely beautiful.”
These landscape scenes in combination with the cultural scenes of heaven and gods were "fantastic" and added another layer to the performance, he said.
It was however, Shen Yun's rendering of the essence of Chinese culture with its traditional beliefs and values, that had made the performance exceptional for him.
“That is what it is all about,” he said, “love and happiness and understanding, that I feel is the true, real China …., he said, “simple and beautiful!”
“That should be the life,” he continued noting that in China today traditional beliefs were repressed. “Unfortunately, we hear from outside, there are many officials who say ‘you cant do this and cant do that,' that is very sad.”
Joe said the culture presented in Shen Yun was something that Chinese people should be proud of.
“I really long for the day China will say to the world, ‘come have a look , how beautiful we are. This is the real China,’ he said adding with a twinkle in his eye, “The day will come.”
Reporting by Henry and Shar Adams.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. The International Company is in Melbourne now for a six show run till Sunday, March 6. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
