(Clearwisdom.net) After recent successful performances in Orange County, Pasadena and San Jose, Shen Yun Performing Arts continues on its Spring Tour 2009 of the West Coast. Shen Yun returned to Portland on Tuesday, May 19, once again captivating audiences with authentic Chinese culture during the one-night only performance at the Keller Auditorium.

Ms. Vorst, a teacher of international folk dance, and her husband, a musician, found the performance very inspiring. Ms. Vorst said, "It's very beautiful. I think there's a universality to classical dance. You know, it encompasses, classical dance from around the world really. Because I teach folk dance, it's the folk dance that I really love. I appreciate all the effort that goes into this."

"As a folk dance teacher myself, I love the chopstick dance ["Mongolian Chopsticks"]. It was exciting. It was rhythmic and ... I was just happy to watch it," she added.

Ms. Vorst was deeply moved by "Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution." "It made me realize-think about all the persecution of people around the world ... so that was the most moving piece for me," said Ms. Vorst.

Referring to the highly accomplished cast of the Shen Yun dancers, Ms. Vorst said, "It's beautiful! When you see so many dancers all at once, it's very inspiring."

It's Important To Keep China's Traditional Culture Alive

Mr. and Ms. Bookless, a computer engineer and an administrative assistant, were very pleased to attend Tuesday's performance. Mr. Bookless said, "The show was very colorful and very expressive. The drummers were very good."

He was also impressed by tenor Tian Ge, exclaiming, "The tenor was unbelievable! He has a great voice. I'm glad he stood back from the microphone!" Tian Ge who possesses both a remarkable voice and a vast vocal range, is considered one of the world's best vocalists.

Shen Yun Performing Arts strives to keep China's traditional culture alive and revive its true essence, which has been sadly lost under the current communist regime. Mr. Bookless was pleased by this, and added that he feels the show is effective in its mission of preserving China's traditional culture, saying that "Its very important to keep the culture alive."

His wife agreed, adding it's "very important--absolutely--that's why we're here."

Musician Impressed By Shen Yun's Music

Among the enthusiastic theater-goers was Tratan, a musician living in Portland who came with his wife to enjoy Shen Yun for the first time on Tuesday night. "The performance is great! It's so beautiful. But this show, even though it has lots of movement, I would say, you know, really interesting movement, but it's not trying to exaggerate too much. So that's one thing I really like about it," he said.

As a musician, Tratan enjoyed listening to the orchestra that combines both classical Western and Chinese instruments, he said, "It's not easy. Because you need to do some kind of a transformation, some kind of transition between ... the composer needs to know both, to be familiar with both kinds of musical arrangement. The European style and also be very familiar with the Chinese."

"The music is beautiful and the conductor plays great. And I like the Chinese music, the Chinese mellows, which is that typical canto tonic hypo-scale I would say, and I can hear the Chinese base inspiration," said Tratan.

He added, "It's very good. I think it's a very good combination. I mean I couldn't see anything that [did] not go together. They go together really well. The musician composing and the choreographer--they work together really, really, really hard. Like a family to make sure everything has artistic fusion, between the two. It's a perfect match. It's a really perfect match."

Musician: "I love the feel and power of the drums"

Mrs. Kautz, a professional dancer, was inspired by the quality of Shen Yun. She was at the show with her husband, a musician and project manager.

Mrs. Kautz, a professional dancer, and her husband, a musician and project manager

"Very much so, it is beautiful, and we have been talking about it at intermission," she said.

Mr. Kautz agreed. "Absolutely, I have enjoyed the show very much. My wife is a dancer, so we pay attention to a lot of dance coming through. We saw it in the paper and it appealed to us based on a new cultural experience."

Mrs. Kautz said she "loved" the dance "The Udumbara's Bloom." The Udumbara flower is said to appear once in every 3,000 years to announce the coming of a great sage.

"Yes, and also the drums--these are my favorites so far. In terms of, I will just call it the Buddha dance for lack of a better word at this moment, I was fascinated by the mudras and by the dancer's arms and hands, and the sacred quality of those movements. It just inspired me as a dancer in what I teach, and what I do. As for the drums--it was just so powerful and loud and the rhythm, it just gets to the heart of being human, I guess to just carry that rhythm and just watching these powerful men doing that."

Mr. Kautz also liked the music and the drums. "I love the feel and power of the drums. I am very much enjoying the music. I am not super familiar with Chinese music, but the string instruments in Chinese music are fascinating, so I am enjoying that very much. Oh, my goodness, the colors and the costumes are gorgeous they have been totally captivating my eye ... but the colors are stunning. I don't know how they are making such quick costume changes. I have been wondering about that, so very beautiful."

Mrs. Kautz added, "Very much the same. Enjoying the colors very much. Very visually stimulating, very enjoyable."

Source:

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