Shen Yun Performing Arts graced the stage of the Edinburgh Playhouse in Scotland on Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, captivating the audience with energetic dance and music.
“It is bursting with energy,” managing director Lachlan Gunn said. “They’re all really clearly passionate; they’re incredibly agile.”
“There was a lot of energy,” composer Algernon Van Peel, who was also in the audience, said. “I love the dancers’ energy.”
He was impressed by the soothing music of Shen Yun, which combines Western and Chinese instruments. “It combined very well. It’s very smooth. And for me, it was very expressive,” he said.
Shen Yun, a New York-based company, performs classical Chinese dance accompanied by a live orchestra.
“I mean, it’s very uplifting. I’ve seen Chinese dance before, but never this way,” Mr. Gunn said.
“It’s really inspirational, and I particularly like the way that they’ve meshed in the traditional dance with the modern electronics. And that’s something I’ve never seen before, live. I think it’s fantastic.”
Becky Gunn, owner of sports therapy business Health in Hand, was also impressed by Shen Yun.
“Fabulous. It’s just alive with color and history, and the dancing is amazing. The choreography, incredible. I hadn’t seen choreography like that for many years,” she said.
Audience members were particularly impressed by the singers.
“I really enjoyed the tenor as well as the way he sang—very passionately,” Mr. Gunn said.
“The singing was absolutely outstanding, incredible singers,” Hannah Sharpe, the owner of local clothing brand Sharpe Shape, said. “I though it was very engaging, having the lyrics in English. It really transformed well,” she added.
“I really liked the singing … especially because the lyrics were on the screen as well. And I could really feel what the singers were trying to say. It was really good,” Mr. Van Peel said.
As a composer, he expressed appreciation to the composer of Shen Yun’s music. “The composer of the music, he or she did really well, because there’s so much small detail in the music.”
Others said they appreciate the deeper messages about humanity in the show.
“I think it was more about traditional values. Because in modern times, we have different problems and we’re kind of lost as a society. And we’re trying to go back to more traditional values,” Mr. Van Peel added.
“One message is the history of the last 5,000 years … where it all came from up above, how it’s come down, mingled into Earth … how we should live.
“And then the other subliminal message coming through is perhaps what’s now happening in China. And, you know, there’s a lot of people who are very happy about that, but they can’t express themselves. And I think through what I’m seeing today, I’m seeing people expressing themselves the way a lot of people in China perhaps would like to express themselves,” Mr. Gunn said.
Shen Yun has seven other troupes traveling throughout the United States, as well as over 20 countries around the world.
This season of Shen Yun runs until May.
NTD News, Edinburgh, Scotland
