(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts was greeted at Montreal's Place des Arts by an enthusiastic full house on Friday night. Canadian actor Anthony Lemke attended with his wife, Maria Gacesa. Lemke's credits include several hit TV series such as Robocop: Prime Detectives, The Listener, Queen of Swords, and the TV movie The Last Templar.

Mr. Lemke was fascinated by the two-stringed erhu

"I think it was colorful. 'Resplendent' is the word," said Mr. Lemke. "Peaceful and, for me, educational. Maybe because I'm only ignorant but I found I don't know much about Chinese culture. Current affairs absolutely, you can't not know about that, but artistically, Chinese culture? No."

Mr. Lemke's friend, actor Danny Blanco-Hall, also attended. He is known for his role in The Last Templar and in the film The Human Stain. Having grown up close to Chinatown, Mr. Blanco-Hall was more familiar with Chinese culture, but admitted there was much to learn.

"You can never really know enough about a culture as old and traditional as [the Chinese culture]," he said.

Mr. Lemke was moved by Shen Yun's classical Chinese dance pieces. "That was the part that affected me most," he said. "It was the actual choreography and the form of the dance, more than the specific choreography ... There was the fans, the long sleeves, the scarves--just spectacular and beautiful."

Mr. Blanco-Hall noted a particular characteristic of the dances. "You don't focus on one individual--what you do is focus on the whole staging and so that way you really get a sense of the movement, particularly of the colors," he said.

He was also impressed by the soloists, singling out the soprano and especially the erhu player.

"That was phenomenal."

For Lemke, it was Shen Yun's portrayal of contemporary times in China that touched him. "It's a longstanding regime and that repression has been a well told story ... but you can't tell it enough," he said.

His wife, Ms. Gacesa, also had high praise for Shen Yun. "I thought it was lovely, particularly the colors and the costumes and the overall feel of the show. I thought it was very essentially beautiful."

Ms. Gacesa also appreciated the Shen Yun orchestra, which combines Chinese and Western instruments to create a uniquely melodious sound.

"I thought that worked very well. The instruments blended nicely together and I liked the original compositions," she said.

She said she appreciated seeing Shen Yun. "I had no idea what to expect coming tonight--we were invited. It was a surprise, actually. My husband took me, and I thought it was a lovely peaceful message."

She concluded by saying that she would come back to see Shen Yun again: "I would love to."

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28073/