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Shen Yun Review: Taryn Gilbert, musical theater director & dancer

“I absolutely love it, and especially as a dancer, one of the things that you notice are the different techniques of dancing... One of my favorite things, is to watch people jump, and flip, and spin, and then to do it in the gorgeous costumes, with the beautiful techniques, and the beautiful elegance, is just, I just absolutely love it... There is one thing about China, which is that the creativity and the artistry and the beauty is just unmatched… It makes you feel just joyful and happy and uplifted, and like you’re floating... So I know from doing musical theater, when you have a live orchestra, as a performer, it just adds that element of class to any performance. And I absolutely love it, and the orchestra is doing a fantastic job... His voice was just, it brought me to tears. It was just a beautiful song, and to hear him sing like that was so much power, and so much emotion behind the voice and behind the words. And to see how he related to it, through his voice and through his emotions—it was great... I think just the whole, the idea behind it, and that, it’s something that’s not celebrated anymore, is so sad, honestly. And it’s so amazing that this group of people is able to keep these traditions alive and share it with people like me who would have no idea otherwise. So it’s just, I honestly don’t even have enough words to say how beautiful it is.”

Taryn Gilbert, musical theater director & dancer