My Evening at “My Mulan” Fantasy Dance Drama…
By Demi Theo
The house was jam-packed recently at the Chinese Cultural Centre, featuring the “My Mulan Fantasy Dance Drama” holiday spectacular!
This extraordinary show was produced by My Mulan Culture Inc. and Lindance. I was truly impressed with how well this show was put together by the many super talented people in the dance industry!
Chief Director Lin Li, the Vice Chairperson of the International Dance Association of Canada and Co-founder of the Toronto International Youth Dance Festival (of which I am a co-organizer), did a wonderful job developing the screenplay of My Mulan, which is the well loved and true story of Mulan, the brave young girl who camouflaged herself as a warrior and went to fight a war in place of her father.
Behind the recreation of this well-liked story, which was also a successful Disney animation film, was the Chief Director/Choreographer, the one and only Shawn Byfield, who is a dance authority, choreographer, entrepreneur, a Gemini Award winner and the Emcee for 3 seasons in a row at Toronto Kids Fashion Week!
I enjoyed meeting some of the talented visionaries behind-the-scenes, including the Artistic Director Hung Fong and the Executive Director Lili Liu. Other members of the dynamic, creative team included Music Director Jiang Zhu; Art/Lighting Director Jang Wang; War Composer Harlin Sun; Juliette Chan as another Choreographer; and Lyricist Christina Li. The Artistic Consultant was Ruirui Tong; Choreographic Consultant Zhonghui Gong; Art Consultant Donglin Yang and Dramaturge by Xubai Li and Yinfong Choi. Serving as the Martial Arts Consultant was Wenqi Li.
I was also very fortunate to meet the lead dancer Ziqi Zan (Mulan, adult) and Wangbo Zhu (General Li), who were both fabulous with their dance moves! Alan Goetten (in the role of King of Balen) and Eyal MakarShvili (General Li), as well as the outstanding dancers Kirk Easy and Brittnee Habbib who all left quite an impression on me!
This was a wonderful holiday spectacular that I recommend to everyone to go see next time it plays. It teaches us the valuable lessons of spiritual strength, through the eyes of the main character of Mulan, and should also empower all women with bravery, independence and courageous love, as director Lin Li says.
What a spectacular evening to remember!
