Educators Impressed by Shen Yun: 'Just so beautiful and expressive!' (Photo)

(Clearwisdom.net) MINNEAPOLIS--The return of Shen Yen Performing Arts to Minneapolis on Wednesday evening, April 14 was met with thunderous applause by an enthusiastic audience. "It's a wonderful performance!" said Lucy Crea, a professor of occupational therapy at St. Catherine University.

Ms. Crea was highly impressed by the performances and said, "It's a wonderful performance. I hadn't had a lot of exposure to traditional Chinese dance before and this is just so impressive and beautiful and expressive. I am learning a lot."

After seeing the Shen Yun show advertised she knew she had to see the world renowned show. "I had seen the ad in the paper, and had wanted to come and my sister happened to have tickets. I am very, very happy she asked me to join her in this!"

New York-based Shen Yen Performing Arts is a triumph of collaboration, bringing together leading dancers, choreographers, and musicians from around the world, according to the official Shen Yen website. Shen Yen brings to life five-millennia-old culture and its universal values.

Ms. Crea appreciated this and said she was impressed by, "The choreography, the uniform expression, the costuming, the musicians...we have a very good view of the musicians and so we are really enjoying watching them play their instruments."

Her sister, Ms. Katherine Hennessey, an elementary school teacher for English as a second language (ESL), enjoyed the presentation of classical Chinese culture and traditions. She was struck by the spiritual content saying, "We don't always or often see that in America, traditional American performances of this type that are musical and filled with dance. You might see it in another venue but not necessarily like this. I like it, it's interesting."

Ms. Crea felt seeing the show helped to enrich and deepen her understanding and knowledge of classical Chinese culture. "I think the importance of community is struck, and how people are close, how groups are very close to each other in the Chinese culture. I think how disciplined the people are is very apparent in how exact the dances are and that's very impressive. I might make notes in the program to go back and look at some of the different terms and different concepts that I am not familiar with."

Ms. Crea said that she would recommend the show to her colleagues and friends by telling them, "If you want to get a good example of what traditional Chinese dance might be, this would an excellent opportunity to see that in a very expressive, and welcoming and very comfortable kind of a setting. The pieces have been diverse enough too, that you're getting a good scope of what the performers can do and what the message is."

Katherine Hennessey with Lucy Crea, a professor of occupational therapy.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/33464/