After two years, Shen Yun Performing Arts returned to the San Francisco Bay Area with an all-new production. Their first stop was at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. The opening performance saw a packed house on Dec. 22.
Shen Yun’s patented 3D projection helps convey stories as the performers interact with it.
“I love the way it’s choreographed,” said Danny Thurro, owner of Thurro Realty. “I love the way they do on the stage, and then they fly up to the mountain or wherever they [go] … come back. It’s like, wow, that is awesome!”
Thurro has been receiving flyers at his office for the last seven or eight years and has been meaning to see the performance.
“I love the Asian culture because I studied martial arts for many years and stuff. So finally, I said, I have to go. So this is my first time,” Thurro said.
“I think it’s fantastic. The colors are amazing. There’s so much happening on the stage,” said Arnout Ter Schure, president of Intelligent Investing, LLC. “It’s really lively.”
“I want to see more. No, it felt, it came from the heart. And it goes into my heart, and that’s what I felt. It came from their heart into my heart and my soul. So yes, fabulous,” said Chris Plumb, owner of The Turbo Tech.
Audience members appreciated seeing elements of something greater: showing compassion in times of distress.
“We were so busy in our daily grind, and just trying to get through our days and with everything that’s going on in our lives right now,” Ter Schure said. “And I think it’s really nice to get reminded of these types of other aspects in our life that are also important for our well-being, and I think that shines through on stage—absolutely!”
Ter Schure attended the opening performance with his wife, Hana Demchenko.
“We live in a time where freedom is important and self-development is important, and people in China are not allowed to express themselves and develop and kind of actualize and realize in a way that, here in the West, we are,” Demchenko said.
“I think we’ve lost our way a little bit. There is not enough compassion between people,” Plumb said. “I think this is a way to show it, a way people are showing. I believe what you put out, you get back. And that’s karma, passion, whatever you want to put it. That’s the way I feel these days. That brought a lot back to me.”
Shen Yun Performing Arts will perform in the Bay Area until Jan. 9, and will visit Sacramento and Reno in March.
NTD News, San Jose, California