(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun performed in Geelong, Victoria in Australia for three shows on April 3 and 4, 2009. Audience reactions were ones of awe and admiration. Several audience members stopped to speak to a reporter to give their impressions.
"I've Never Seen Anything Like It Before. I'm Quite Taken Aback."
Ms. Barrett, formerly a finance manager for an international finance company, attended the show with a friend, Mr. Williams. He enthusiastically pronounced, "I thought it was beautiful! Immaculately costumed--the performers were lovely."
Ms. Barrett, formerly with an international finance company, at the show with Mr. Williams
Ms. Barrett wholeheartedly agreed, "Oh, it was beautiful! The actual way they are dressed, just so beautiful! There was not one thing that you could find that you didn't like--it was beautiful."
Speaking of the ancient stories told through song and dance, Ms. Barrett said, "They were outstanding! Outstanding! I was looking at those particularly, because I could see how well they were [done]. Beautiful! Very outstanding!" She said the music was "beautiful! There's not one thing I could say I didn't like, not one thing. It's the first time [seeing this show], so it was interesting. I've never seen anything like it before. I'm quite taken aback , because they're such lovely people. I was so taken aback by their [expression of] personality. I've never seen anyone like them before.
"I'll tell them [friends and family] all about it. I'll tell them how striking it was--it was so striking. I'm just so taken in by them [the performers]. I'm just so taken in by the way they were dressed, they way they look, and their hair--all those things. I was just so taken aback. It was fantastic."
Dress Designer: "The Costumes, the Colors--It Was Just Gorgeous."
Ms. Boyd designs clothes. When she saw Shen Yun in Australia, her professional curiosity was piqued. "I did like ["Flowing Sleeves"]. The way that it was introduced, coming off the screen, disappearing off the screen, and then the ladies coming in on the stage with these beautiful flowing sleeves! I'm trying to work out how they get all that material to fit into the sleeve."
Dress Designer Ms. Boyd
Very long pale peach sleeves are integral to the choreography. The voluminous sleeves are attached to fitted light blue dresses. Their original costumes have been designed and sewn for the show each year since the inception of the company's world tours in 2006.
Ms. Boyd said, "I'm trying to work that out while I'm watching these beautiful women dance. I thought that the whole dance, the costumes, the screens at the back--it just all blended together so well. It was just absolutely magnificent! Oh, I could just watch it again and again! And I wished I had those slim figures... I felt very peaceful. It was all beautiful!.. The dance tells the story. And it was just wonderful, peaceful--it explained everything you were looking at. The costumes, the colors--it was just gorgeous."
In closing, Ms. Boyd said the show was "Magnificent! Mind boggling, really mind boggling, because I've never seen anything like that here in Australia, and I just thought it was wonderful."
"It Describes China in a Much Clearer Way Than What We Read About"
Ms. Meryn Lavingdale, a retired business manager, and her husband were in the audience. Ms. Lavingdale said, "The show is absolutely magnificent! It's totally spectacular--the technical aspects and all of the scenery. The dancers were amazing! And I enjoyed learning about the culture, things I'd never thought of as being connected with China, different sorts of dances and a lot of different aspects. It was just totally wonderful! And the music, I did enjoy the music."
Just like audiences worldwide, the Costa Hall theatergoers were delighted to experience the ancient tales from China's 5,000 year-old history. The pieces "The Five Millennia Begin" and "Knowing the True Picture Offers Ultimate Hope" have become favorites for many audience members, just as they were for Ms. Lavingdale. "It was heavenly. It was inspirational," she said.
Ms. Lavingdale said the music was "quite spiritual, quite enlightening, quite uplifting in lots of ways and very physical, very happy." Her husband shared his feelings about the show, "I thought it was fantastic. It was completely different from what I thought it would be. When I read about it, I thought 'Oh yes, I'd like to see the dancing.' But when I came here, it was completely different. It's very hard to describe it to anybody."
He was greatly impressed by "The Five Millennia Begin." He said, "The opening was completely different from what I thought it would be. It was very--what would you say, something you think about for a long while, something you'd think about."
Like so many others in the audience, he was at a loss for words to truly express his feelings, "It's a hard one to really describe. How would you describe it? My way of looking at it would be: It describes China in a much clearer way than what we read about.... They expressed with their dancing more than I ever thought a dance could convey."
Source: http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14776/
http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14765/
http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14768/
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
