(Minghui.org) Audiences hailed the sole performance of Shen Yun Performing Art’s 2012 world tour at the Palais des Congrès de Paris in Paris, France, on April 10, 2012. It was a night to remember—a truly unique and rare presentation of classical Chinese music and dance.

Le Comte d’Auxois: '[Shen Yun] is something rare, very rare'

Palais des Congrès de Paris

Le Comte d’Auxois, representative of HRH the Count of Paris, lyrical artist, and close friend of the heir to the throne of France, praised Shen Yun for its “unique and rare” presentation of classical Chinese dance and music, “a success in all aspects.”

“The aesthetic aspect, it is of course remarkable,” he said. “There is an extraordinary professionalism. These days, this is something rare, very rare.

“The costumes are magnificent. The ideas for the decor and the special effects [backdrops] are particularly interesting.

“There are many subtle messages, and this is all brought forth subtly, whether in the choice of colors, shades, costumes, in the steps, the interpretations … It is a success in all aspects, truly!”

Le Comte d'Auxois attends Shen Yun Performing Arts in Paris

The Count especially liked the cultural richness of Shen Yun and the harmony between the artists.

Shen Yun, “has at heart to represent the values and the history of these Asian countries, as there is China, there is Taiwan etc. We see this desire to give the true story and the true color that we would want to see appear today.”

When asked to comment on the Shen Yun orchestra, he replied, “For someone such as myself who is a musician, its extraordinary, magnificent, to hear music played live, to have a conductor—a woman, in addition. It’s very rare and very good!

“There are absolutely magnificent tones and it’s also very well-orchestrated. This musical score … not only are there no mistakes in the harmony, but they also know how to make the instruments sing, they know how to put modernity in it while respecting ancient intervals and modes, ancient writing.

“Very often with Asia, and especially China, they embroider a lot musically—to do things in the style of such and such. Here, however, it was not in the style of [anyone]. It was with precise themes, precise intervals, we could only do this 1,000 or 2,000 years ago.

“It’s intelligently orchestrated and harmonized to bring a touch of modernity, as we are in the 21st century,” the Count concluded.

Performing arts connoisseur applauds Shen Yun artists

Marguerite Bertoni attends Shen Yun Performing Arts in Paris.

As a performing arts actress, director, and teacher, Marguerite Bertoni has thrilled audiences for more than 20 years, both nationally and internationally.

Referring to the Shen Yun performance itself, she said: “I think this is an exacting performance, because the artists master movement, rhythm, and gesture, and everything is extremely accurate, concise, with the ability to move from one scene to another with great ease.”

Ms. Bertoni said she was able to appreciate the quality of the New York-based company that produced such a spectacular.

“The costumes are very sophisticated, so I can imagine that behind the scenes it is nothing less than a beehive of activity for all the costume changes. Even though there are quite a few tricks in the trade, I can still imagine the hustle and bustle on stage and behind the scenes to get to the level the audience saw.”

She was equally thrilled by the backdrops. “What is also fascinating is the projection of the backdrops, which allows some characters to incarnate, since they appear suddenly on the screen.

“This is a moving animation … and then there is a transition that occurs between the backdrop and the stage, where the artists have to be extremely synchronized to be able to catch up and embody on stage the characters that are projected on the screen. It works fine, both from the stage to the screen, as well as from the screen to the stage.”

The background effect “gives everything a dreamlike quality” Ms. Bertoni said.

She felt that the interaction between screen and stage worked well because in ancient China, the divine has always been a part of human life.

“This works well because the gods are there,” Mrs. Bertoni said. “So there is this notion of a gem that is in everyone!”

Mrs. Bertoni was dazzled by the quality of the artists and especially the dancers.

“There was, of course, tremendous control of the body … Both male and female dancers have extraordinary elegance in their movements.”

Calling on her expertise and sense of stage, Ms. Bertoni said, “All traditional gestures are coded—there is really a sequence of numbers that is well controlled. On set, there are very few marks on the floor, so there is really a good control of space, extreme precision, at the level of where one places the feet, arms and hands, since the detail in the hand gestures is also very important.

“Everything is done at a very fast pace so that we have this feeling of fluidity. Obviously, this takes years and years of work. Even if the staging of this show has not taken years to achieve such virtuosity, it’s years of work and body control, for sure.”

A very important part of Shen Yun's trademark success is a full orchestral ensemble.

Ms. Bertoni was amazed at the orchestra's harmonic blending of both ancient Eastern and contemporary Western musical instruments.

“What’s interesting is that you could mix traditional classical instruments with contemporary instruments. It’s always nice to mix the times and ages, and see that music has no age since we can skip even centuries.

“Music does not wrinkle and get old. Obviously of course, there are musical genres … I know very little about Chinese music, I cannot give you an accurate point of view on this, but it works because there is a synchronicity between musical rhythms, and dance steps and movements that are mastered to the nearest second.”

Sources:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/shen-yun-on-tour/shen-yun-lauded-by-le-comte-dauxois-un-spectacle-rare-219651.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/shen-yun-on-tour/performing-arts-connoisseur-marguerite-bertoni-applauds-shen-yun-artists-220219.html