MEMPHIS, Tenn.—World traveling flight attendant Ms. Wong wore red lipstick, sophistication, and a sense of humor to the Memphis performance of New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts. She joked about China’s contributions spreading to the rest of the world.

“The girls that looked like they were flowing on water—to see their delicate foot movements—and it seemed like they just floated across the stage, [that] was when the beauty of the artistry hit me,” she said with an open, tender expression.

Then the humor: “And it made me think maybe that’s where Michael Jackson got his Moonwalk! Why can’t we claim that? The Italians got the spaghetti but we are not giving up the Moonwalk!"

Elegantly dressed, warm, and friendly, rocking a Southern accent, Ms. Wong responded to the performance on more than one level. She said, “Even though I’m an American-born Chinese and moved back to Hong Kong for 11 years, it does hit an emotional spot in my heart.”

She said the performance “really made me proud to be Chinese.”

The richness of Chinese dance was greater than even she knew, she said. It was remarkable “to see how our culture and history and heritage [have] influenced the modern entertainment world in ways that I really never knew. I mean even in sports.”

“You know all of the movements and the dances that derive from it are amazing, I mean really.”

She said she felt it was important to recognize the distinctive qualities of classical Chinese dance. “I think its important to keep in mind that this is the classical Chinese dance which is different from the Lion dance or the acrobats. It’s more refined, more elegant."

She said she has traveled a great deal, and seen many kinds of performances, but “being Chinese, you just cannot say too many good things about this show.”

She said she had been telling Mr. Balmer that it was a shame the female dancers wore long flowing skirts which hid their legs and the details of the footwork; yet perhaps that was part of the subtlety of the culture—and even the humility, to hide how much hard work went into the performance.

Mr. Balmer, a businessman, said Ms. Wong was expressing everything beautifully, so that he felt little need to speak, but he noted “just the gracefulness of the movements that are up there, knowing the dedication—that it has taken so many years and been passed on for generations within the culture” was wonderful to see.

He said he felt pride “as a local Memphian” that Shen Yun had come to their city.

Sources: By Mary Silver, Epoch Times Staff