Shen Yun Spiritual Arts

OTTAWA—It was a crisp, cool January afternoon in Ottawa as Shen Yun Performing Arts took the stage at the National Arts Centre for the first of two shows on Sunday, Jan. 10.

Temperatures outside may have been cold, but inside the theatre enthusiastic cheers and thunderous applause gave a warm welcome to the New York-based performing arts company which recently began an extensive world tour.

The Sunday evening performance was equally well received. Both shows, as well the final show on Monday evening, were sold out, including standing-room seats which were opened for sale a day in advance.

For many, the Shen Yun performances were an introduction to ancient Chinese culture and various Asian ethnicities and legends. For others it was a return to a show they have grown to appreciate and look forward to as an annual family outing.

Senator Elizabeth Hubley, who spoke at the VIP reception on Sunday afternoon, is a veteran dancer and dance instructor. She continues to serve as artistic director and principal choreographer of her own dance studio, Stepping Out, in Prince Edward Island.

“The show was absolutely stunning. It was just astonishing in its exuberance and its colour, in the choreography, in the music. It was enjoyable from the beginning to the end,” she said in an interview at the reception.

The show, she said, has a “very special spiritual aspect” to it that she found moving. “Moved to tears, absolutely. ... The show far exceeded my expectations.”Shen Yun is a company of leading artists that aims to breathe new life into traditional Chinese culture through excellence in classical Chinese dance and music, taking inspiration from myths and legends from Chinese history as well as events unfolding in the contemporary world.

Its performances evoke timeless themes of virtue, compassion, and courage, reflecting the profound spiritual meaning underlying the culture of China that thrived before decades of communist rule.

Member of Provincial Parliament Randy Hillier, who also attended the VIP reception, said the solo performances by tenor Guan Guimin and soprano Geng Haolan, “tell of those common beliefs and common values and ethics between people. You learn more of the culture and the foundations that are similar between all people.”

Among other VIPS who attended the Sunday shows were Ottawa city councillors Glenn Brooks, Georges Bedard, and Jacques Legendre; Tam Matthews, headmaster at Ashbury College; Chris Carruthers, chair of the Ashbury College Foundation; and former Ottawa Poet Laureate Prof. Cyril Dabydeen.

Professor Dabydeen has attended Shen Yun shows since the production first played in Ottawa in 2007. He said that at previous shows what he took note of the most was the richness of traditional Chinese culture.

But this time around “what has come to me more beautifully is the sense of the divine—the celestial spirit in all of us—that is really coming to me more forcefully than ever.”

“Now, the finer points come to me, the embroidery of it all,” he said, referring to the dance titled Elegant Embroidery which evoked images of an exquisite and delicate art form that was the pride of ancient Chinese women.

Shen Yun’s dance style draws from China’s 5,000 years of culture. “The unique art of Chinese dance that we know today, with its impressive scale and system, is the product of generations of dancers’ many years of artistic experience combined with their refining, reorganizing, and reworking of the art form,” says the Web site of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

With both shows on Sunday receiving standing ovations and curtain calls for the performers, theatregoers expressed their appreciation for a truly unique and moving cultural event that is both entertaining and educational for the whole family.

Shen Yun will continue on to Montreal, Hamilton, and Toronto after playing its last show in Ottawa on Monday evening. The company will then visit several cities in the United States before returning to perform in western Canada in March.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.