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"Gravity Does Not Apply To Them"
Shen Yun
Over the last couple of years I've seen a commercial on TV advertising what looks like a performance of Chinese ballet blended with Cirque du Soleil. The commercial plays all over the U.S.-- Los Angeles, Tampa, New York-- you can't avoid it.
Ever since I was a kid dragged to every classical orchestra concert, opera and ballet my parents and relatives could dredge-up, my senses are attuned what to avoid at all costs. And Shen Yun seems to place near the top of my run-like-hell list. Their commercials contain glowing testimonials from exactly the same demographic of people that attend philanthropic dinners, wine parties, famous author book signings and university fund raisers. Average English vernacular "does not apply to them" paraphrasing one of the corniest and most descriptive snippets from a Shen Yun commercial. Over the years I've toasted wine glasses with enough of them to recognize their expansive enthusiasm for theater.
The only reason I'm posting this is that Santa Claus played another cruel practical joke on me in the form of two tickets to an upcoming performance of this thing. Moreover I have from now until April to stew and stress until my wife and I attend this shindig with my retired parents. Please don't get the idea I'm against showering and changing into my dress duds but...
Occasionally even a slovenly dullard like myself has come away from a cultural event overwhelmed and impressed. In the final stages of terminal cancer Giacomo Puccini composed a grand opera called Turandot set in fictional ancient Peking ( Beijing). He employed a full orchestra playing thunderous passages in the pentatonic scale and a heroic tenor belting-out the greatest aria ever composed. Now that took balls!
I doubt Shen Yun will have a finale like this:
Shen Yun
Over the last couple of years I've seen a commercial on TV advertising what looks like a performance of Chinese ballet blended with Cirque du Soleil. The commercial plays all over the U.S.-- Los Angeles, Tampa, New York-- you can't avoid it.
Ever since I was a kid dragged to every classical orchestra concert, opera and ballet my parents and relatives could dredge-up, my senses are attuned what to avoid at all costs. And Shen Yun seems to place near the top of my run-like-hell list. Their commercials contain glowing testimonials from exactly the same demographic of people that attend philanthropic dinners, wine parties, famous author book signings and university fund raisers. Average English vernacular "does not apply to them" paraphrasing one of the corniest and most descriptive snippets from a Shen Yun commercial. Over the years I've toasted wine glasses with enough of them to recognize their expansive enthusiasm for theater.
The only reason I'm posting this is that Santa Claus played another cruel practical joke on me in the form of two tickets to an upcoming performance of this thing. Moreover I have from now until April to stew and stress until my wife and I attend this shindig with my retired parents. Please don't get the idea I'm against showering and changing into my dress duds but...
Occasionally even a slovenly dullard like myself has come away from a cultural event overwhelmed and impressed. In the final stages of terminal cancer Giacomo Puccini composed a grand opera called Turandot set in fictional ancient Peking ( Beijing). He employed a full orchestra playing thunderous passages in the pentatonic scale and a heroic tenor belting-out the greatest aria ever composed. Now that took balls!
I doubt Shen Yun will have a finale like this: