Shen Yun performed for Atlanta audiences last week—upholding its mission to restore 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture. Combining classical Chinese dance, music, costume, and visuals to bring stories to life.
Tracy Threlkeld Beaton, music teacher and owner of Threlkeld Academy Of Music & Arts, said: “I feel inspired, I feel lifted and fed. My whole spirit, my whole body has just been … is just really in a state of happiness.”
Tramy Nguyen, business owner of W T Automax, LLC, said: “ I saw the first show about 10 years ago, this time I brought 21 people to come to the show. And I told them you gotta see the show, and they loved it.”
William King, a Grammy award-winning member of The Commodores, praised the show and called the performance “mesmerizing.”
“First of all it was absolutely great, I would say it deserves a Grammy … But it was really written well, you know it all meshed together and there were always moments of ups and downs, and the way it made you feel going through the whole thing was the way I think it should have been. I was really mesmerized, I loved it. I would have loved to have met the conductor and also the writer.”
According to Shen Yun’s website, in Classical Chinese dance the inner feelings drive the body to achieve the full expression of the movements.
Mr. King said: “whoever wrote the music, whoever did the dancing, the choreography, it was seamless. It was very special the way they did it. And of course the dancers are just incredible.”
Delano Johnson is the best-selling author of “Refuse to Live Talented & Broke!” and also a Grammy and Dove Award nominee. He was in awe of Shen Yun performers’ ability to convey the message of spiritual beliefs through classical Chinese dance.
“You think of perfection as mechanical, but the movement on the stage, everything was extremely graceful, and it communicated the heart of the religion and the spiritual beliefs of the theme of the show.”
Shen Yun hopes to show audiences where China’s true roots of culture, spirituality, and tradition originated. Due to the current communist regime, Shen Yun is unable to perform in China.
“Sadly in China and Vietnam nowadays they don’t have that because the communist government took over. They don’t give people a chance to express themselves. [They] have no freedom of speech, of religion, and they don’t like people to speak their voice. So beside the show, beside the dancing, the message is really strong,” said Nguyen.
Ms. Beaton said: “That was an eye opener, it made me feel grateful for my rights, and for the ability to worship and to do as I please each day and not have that kind of persecution. It just made me feel really grateful and sad that other people have to go through that.”
Along with classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun features musical performances. The Erhu is a two-stringed musical instrument with an over 4,000-year history, and can present a wide range of emotions through its sound.
Derek Easterling, mayor of Kennesaw, said: “It was absolutely incredible that you could have so much emotion and sound and vibrancy in a two-stringed instrument.”
“It really, really communicated a deep felt emotion that I think the whole cast and everyone in their performance, everyone gave that. It was really a spiritual journey,” said Johnson.
Shen Yun will be touring Georgia until Feb. 17.
Mr. Easterling and his wife Dawn said: “You gotta see it. The elegance and the strength and all the dances and performances were … yes, I would recommend it, highly.”
NTD News, Atlanta, Georgia
