Grand Rapids, Michigan, welcomed Shen Yun Performing Arts on Feb. 21 and 22.
“It was the best performance I’ve seen,” said Isaac Chandler, owner of automation engineering company Adept Control. “The dancing was just amazing. The two singers were top-notch. They were amazing. It completely blew me away. Every minute of the presentation was amazing.”
“The performance, the costumes, the dancing, the music. Superb. Yes. Wonderful,” said Rita Reilly, a security program manager of the U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Stuttgart Antiterrorism Office. She attended the performance with her husband Larry Reilly, a public affairs officer at USAG Stuttgart.
Former audit director Danielle Vasilko said: “I thought it was beautiful and very moving. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was very enjoyable.”
“Feeling like we went to heaven—I feel like we went up into the clouds,” Trapps Productions owner Ron Trapp recalled.
Hailing from New York, Shen Yun features classical Chinese dance and live orchestral music. Its artists draw inspiration from the 5,000-year-old civilization of China—from before communism tore down its traditions and culture.
Mr. Chandler added: “I like the way that they melded the ancient traditions with modern society, and showed how we are going astray, and that possibly our traditions may be strong enough to steer us back on the right track.”
Artist Carolyn Boatman echoed that opinion: “I loved the idea that there was so much faith brought forth and talked about. And was free to be talked about. That’s just fabulous in my opinion.”
“We really need to focus on how much we are the same, because every culture has similar stories and similar experiences, and I don’t think we focus on that enough. We focus on what’s different. We don’t focus on what’s the same. And I think the same is really what brings us all together. I think the more we see stories like this, the more we start to understand how everybody in the world feels,” Ms. Vasilko said.
Mr. Reilly said, “it helps keep the history of the culture alive, and that’s what this performance does.”
“Oh, please go, please go and see it. And you won’t regret it at all,” Ms. Reilly added.
Shen Yun is performing in South Dakota, California, Illinois, and other states at the end of February into March. International stops include France, Poland, and Taiwan.
NTD news, Grand Rapids, Michigan
