Shen Yun Performing Arts graced stages in Tampa, Florida, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Metairie, Louisiana, from April 3–5. Audience members said they were stunned by the show’s artistry.
“Outstanding, exquisite, perfection, phenomenal,” said John Young, the senior VP of Consumerism and Engagement at HSA Bank. “Coordination is a great point, everything was in sync, it was amazing.”
Mark Drewers, the director of Jefferson Parish said: “It’s fun. It’s interesting because you can see the beautiful backdrop. But it’s so cool when they have the animation come down, and it basically turns into a dancer. So it’s well choreographed.”
“It was really beautiful. I liked a lot of the costumes. I thought they were really colorful. I liked the storyline,” said Brittney Smith, a business owner. “[In] certain parts I got chills, and it was really pretty.”
Shen Yun has been touring around the world since 2006 with one goal: to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture and values. These values were believed to be inspired by the divine. Theatergoers praised the effort and took note of a deeper message.
“I absolutely feel that there was a message out of this performance, and that is that God is with us, we are from God, the divine, as the show outlined. And that this is something we must return to,” said Mr. Young. “You took us on a journey, we got heights and joy and beauty of life, and we got the tragedy and the conflict and the heartbreak of life. And it all points to the divine to help us through.”
Timothy Kurtz, a pilot at United Airlines, said: “the beauty of it and then the acknowledgement that there is a Creator and that we are just not random creatures here. We have a culture, we have our ancestors, we have the traditions, the things that they did that worked out well and didn’t work out well. And you can’t look at this world and not know that there’s something bigger than us, and that was beautifully played out.”
“I liked a lot of the songs that they had. They were translating English and being able to read that. It was very inspirational from a lot of the songs, and they were very beautiful,” said Ms. Smith. “From what I was reading, it was about going back to old traditions and not being caught up in new modern ways. That’s what I took from the lyrics.”
Every season, Shen Yun artists bring an all-new program for audiences to enjoy, including original dances, music, stories, and backdrops.
“Keep doing what you do. You guys are amazing. Every aspect of what you do, it is so cool to see how well you can control your bodies and how you interact with each other,” said Ryan Karjalahti, the owner of RHKarjalahti International. “When you bring it all together, it really is something spectacular, and we’ll be back again.”
“It’s fabulous. It’s really amazing to see the traditional Chinese art forms, the culture, the dance, the stories. It’s all new to me. So I’m really, really enjoying it. It’s really worth coming out to see this,” said Scott Zior, a pastor.
Mr. Kurtz said: “The whole experience where you interacted with the concepts of freedom and the divine and then the beauty, how it all rolled together, was a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed the performance.”
Roger Castle, an account executive at N. Glantz & Son, said: “Keep going. Always keep your culture alive. Express your heart, your spirit, your soul, and your culture through your art, because you touch people in ways you have no idea of.”
Shen Yun is performing at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida, from May 8–11.
NTD News, New York
