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SYDNEY—The Mayor of the City of Ryde said he was “overwhelmed with all of the performances” of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Elected late last year, Artin Etmekjian is Australia’s first Armenian mayor and came to the “lucky country” with his family when he was 2 years old.
“I was actually overwhelmed with all of the performances, it’s very hard to pick one,” Mr. Etmekjian said at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre on Saturday night, Feb. 19. “They all gave a great story and send a good message.”
“I would encourage people to come and see it.”
He said he and his wife, Nora, enjoyed learning about other cultures and Shen Yun taught them more about China.
“The culture that obviously exists there in the Chinese history is … it’s excellent, it’s wonderful, and for people to experience it, I think it’s the least that we can do to appreciate other cultures,” he said.
He was also impressed by the digital backdrops, which display scenes of ancient China and interact with the dancers, in some cases allowing dancers to “fly” onto the stage.
“Oh, I was very impressed by the way they’ve got people flying in and flying out, that was the first thing that blew me out,” Mr. Etmekjian said.
He said he appreciated the show’s contemporary themes such as the dances depicting the persecution of the meditation practice Falun Gong in today’s China.
“I for one would not like to support something like that because I think that everyone should be free to express their love of their country and their love of their culture and heritage,” Mr. Etmekjian said.
Mrs. Etmekjian said Shen Yun was “very colourful, very beautiful, very nicely coordinated, and very informative.”
She particularly enjoyed the Plum Blossom dance, in which colourful pink and white fans and intricate movements combine to depict plum trees blossoming at the end of Winter.
“I loved it, it was magnificent, brilliant, colourful, nicely-coordinated, it was just perfect,” she said. “Very enjoyable to see and to watch how they perform it. They were just excellent.
“I wish everyone performing and organizing it all the best and they are really entertaining.”
Reporting by Steve Xu and Ethan Yang.
Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company will perform at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre until Feb. 23. Next stop on the tour is Melbourne, March 1-6. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
