Shen Yun kicked off its performances in Milan on Jan. 16—aiming to restore the essence of Chinese culture. Those traditions are thought to be deeply rooted in moral values and spirituality.
Ivan Alberti, an ICT architectures manager of RCS Mediagroup, said: “It’s a feeling of originality and of—really millennial history.” He also added: “I also find it really original that they bring all these scenes, these skits in different settings that really show how much history and how much China can offer us, and how much is the Chinese reality today.”
Cristina Zannoni, a business owner, said: “as long as they continue like this, they will make us experience them as a fairy tale, in a magical world, and this I hope [to see] with all my heart, really.”
Shen Yun also incorporates musical performances. Its artists sing in Mandarin using the traditional Bel Canto technique with English translations shown on the backdrop behind them. The original songs often embrace spiritual themes.
Letizia Turrà, a singer and writer, said: “I liked them very much, especially the tenor, the tenor impressed me a lot.” She also said that “the messages however, the lyrics of both of them are extremely positive.”
“The lyrics touched me a lot in the sense that it shows us what we are here to do in this world,” said Pamela Volpi, a senior manager at Forever Living Products. “It’s a theme that everybody will face sooner or later, and so the more inspirations you take, the more reflections you can make”
Elisa Siragusano, a singer, said: “of course for us there are themes that may not immediately come through, is to remain consistent with one’s faith, in spite of, whatever it is in spite of what is imposed on us.”
“It’s a bit of a return to the origins,” said Luca Panzeri, CEO of Panzeri. “Out of the modernity of things and actually these are values that matter and need to be taken into consideration even for today’s kids and today’s modern life.”
Shen Yun will be performing in Milan until Jan. 21.
NTD News, Milan, Italy
