Avatar Production Designer Finds Shen Yun "Inspiring"

Emmy and Academy Award winner Robert Stromberg was the production designer for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland.

He saw Shen Yun at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, in Los Angeles.

[Robert Stromberg, Avatar Production Designer]:
"The show was absolutely beautiful. It was so inspiring, I think I may have found some new ideas for the next Avatar. It was tremendous to see the wide-ranging different types of performance art come together as one. It was very beautiful to see it, it became this one big poetic event. And the color, the lights and the movement. The performers were fantastic. I thought it was wonderful.”

He says Shen Yun's dances had elements he had never seen before.

[Robert Stromberg, Avatar Production Designer]:
“Especially, I loved the dances where they synchronized the sounds as well with the costumes and what they’re wearing, the women with the silver and the men with the chopsticks. I think that would make a great dance in a film someday. You know that type of thing. The environments, the background, the use of color, the use of color and costume together, those types of things were very unique and inspirational.”

He comments on the use of digital backdrops to frame the dance.

[Robert Stromberg, Avatar Production Designer]:
“It was an interesting use of, an interactive element, which I think as it develops it could become a new art form in itself. A live performance mixed with digital projection and maybe 3D eventually, who knows. Using those two techniques together it would be almost like going to the theater and a movie at the same time.”
 
As a designer, Stromberg has done a lot of research on China and China’s landscapes. He says seeing a traditional performance with authentic backgrounds, brought it all together for him.

[Robert Stromberg, Avatar Production Designer]:
“The interesting thing for me that I take home is the, it’s a little bit like taking the old and the new and putting them together. It’s interesting to see the culture advancing and using some of the media in a new way. So I’m excited to see, years from now, how that cross-blending will come, and I’m looking forward to seeing that next year.”

NTD News, Los Angeles.