Dance Professionals Praise Shen Yun Performing Arts: "Purity and Refinement" (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts graced the stage once again at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium for its second performance in Calgary on March 31, 2010.

Mr. Murray Kilgour, a world-renowned ballet teacher and principal of the School of Alberta Ballet, attended the show. "Very colorful, very exciting. I love the variety, and it's interesting to see different styles, different energy in dance," he said.

Mr. Kilgour praised the classical Chinese dance in the Shen Yun show and noted that there were differences in ballet and classical Chinese dance.

Murray Kilgour, world-renowned ballet teacher and principal of the School of Alberta Ballet

"They have beautiful arms, beautiful form, they work together beautifully, the men are very energetic," he said.

Mr. Kilgour danced many solo and principal roles in the National Ballet of Canada, and has also been a part of the Royal Ballet Covent Garden. Besides Canada, he has also taught dance in different areas, including Europe and China.

What stood out for Mr. Kilgour was the femininity and gentleness of the female dancers' performances.
"That lovely movement of the arms, that lovely flowing movement, I like that," he said.

"There was a femininity and a purity and a softness in the arms and a loveliness in the expression, especially from the women that I find appealing."

Expanding further, he said the show "...has this purity and refinement from the ladies, very feminine, then the men come out and they're very strong, nice to see so many of them dancing."

He explained that you seldom see so many men dancing, and they are all very strong and masculine, "...which is nice to see, and lots of energy and vitality."

Other elements in the show also caught the attention of the artist. He praised the digital backdrops depicting various scenes throughout the show ranging from beautiful landscapes to celestial palaces, and said, "It was wonderful the way they had obviously designed the costumes to go with the picture, and it all flowed beautifully."

The themes that he recognized in the show, said Mr. Kilgour, seemed to do with "...nature and beauty and the flow of nature."

"Nature has its season, and if you try to fight the seasons, it doesn't work, you go with the flow, and I think that this dance goes with the flow of nature ... it flows naturally," he said.

Having taught at the Beijing National Academy of Dance in 1985, Mr. Kilgour was able to watch a few Chinese dance performances in China. He noted however, the unique characteristics that make Shen Yun stand out.

"I think you go back to the refinement of it, nothing is rough, it has that almost timeliness about it where you don't feel a rough edge to anything, it all flows beautifully and the fact that the women are so feminine, and the men are so strong."

Clean and Beautiful

Jennifer Mariani, a dance instructor at the School of Alberta Ballet, was among the enthusiastic audience.

"The costumes were stunning!" Ms. Mariani exclaimed. "It was beautiful to see how clean and well rehearsed everything was ... we're looking at the stage and the scenery and the costumes and how everything was so beautifully done, it was lovely."

She commented on the dance techniques of classical Chinese dance presented in the Shen Yun performance, "The women's movements were quite graceful and flowing and very elegant, very beautiful to look at. And the men, I enjoyed the tumbling and the turns. It was very energetic and very cyclical."

Jennifer Mariani, a dance teacher, at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium

Combined with the costumes, backdrops, and props, the dances were all very effective and created beautiful visual effects, she added.

"The way the costumes were used to add effect to everything, and the long pieces that they picked up when they turned, the visual effect that it gives, ... looking at the whole piece overall, I quite enjoyed the effect that the style of choreography gave visually. The costumes were very colorful and bright and very visually stunning."

She was impressed by the large-scale dances, noting, "To choreograph that many people on stage at one time and for it to be so precise" is not easy.

"It was so clean and beautiful, the lines and circles and formations," Ms. Mariani said.

Ms. Mariani was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. She joined the Zimbabwe National Ballet, and later entered the prestigious Northern Ballet School in Manchester, England at age 17, where she trained as a professional dancer and teacher. During her career Ms. Mariani has taught classical ballet in many countries including Zimbabwe, Switzerland, U.K., and Canada. In Calgary, Ms. Mariani teaches at several schools and has won awards for her choreography.

Dancers Express Admiration for Shen Yun

Alexandra Potgieter and Sarah Tavler, two students from the School of Alberta Ballet, were among the audience. The school they attend is the official training center of Alberta Ballet and is one of Canada's leading dance training institutions.

"I loved it," said Alexandra. As a ballet dancer, Alexandra said the classical Chinese dance was wonderful. "I loved the lines, the way everyone works together. It was really beautiful."

Ballet dancer Alexandra said the classical Chinese dance was wonderful

Sarah, in her fourth year of the professional program at the school, said of the dancing, "Oh, it was really different to see and I really loved the patterns, the clarity... "

They both said it was completely different from what they dance, but beautiful and they liked the unique story-telling taken from ancient legends and folk traditions.

Alexandra said, "I loved it. It's beautiful and different ... I want to do it!"