HOUSTON—Shen Yun Performing Arts delighted the matinee audience at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts on December 29. Casey Olson, a Gulf of Mexico Data Advisor for Occidental Petroleum and a council member for the City of Montgomery, especially enjoyed the ethnic dances.
“I really enjoyed the ethnic dances. Those are very nice. The colors are wonderful. It’s more lively than traditional ballet, and I like that. The cultural background is very nice. We don’t see a lot of Chinese culture here,” he said.
Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Based in New York, its artists are dedicated to reviving China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.
Olson was pleased that Shen Yun presented traditional Chinese culture. “I just love the fact that they want to share their culture, and just to see that because of what’s happening,” he said. “It could very well be that it could die out if dance organizations like this don’t keep it alive. It could disappear.”
Olson said he just learned from Shen Yun of the suppression of the Falun Gong spiritual practice in China. “I don’t know a lot, like I said, about the Chinese culture. … Obviously, we do hear some about communism, but we don’t get to see the actual oppression that happens.”
Millions of people in China practice Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice based on the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance. The practice is persecuted in China today, and Shen Yun is banned from performing there.
Olson said he was not aware of the extent of the persecution happening in China today. “I knew there was religious persecution, but I’m not familiar with how far they go with the persecution, imprisonment, and torture, and things like that. I’m very glad that they bring that to your attention because if you don’t know, you don’t know,” he said.
Small Business Owner Learns of the Persecution in China
Small business owner, Darryl Raddle, enjoyed so much of the Shen Yun performance, especially the storylines. “I think the music was great, and the dancing was great; the costumes were really nice. I think the storylines, the various storylines, that they have are nice and [reveal] little things that we don’t know about,” he said.
He was very impressed with the men’s dancing. “I thought they did a really nice job. I liked the costumes they had. It seems like they were so perfectly on cue. I liked all of it.”
Raddle especially enjoyed the last dance before the intermission. “I liked especially the last one that they just did. [The Tibetan dance] was really nice.”
The Shen Yun animated backdrop is patented, and Raddle thought that added “a great touch” to the production. He said it was the first time he had seen such a set.
Presenting a brand-new set of dance pieces, musical compositions, and solo performances each season, the company takes its audience on a journey through time and space to rediscover the beauty and traditional values of pre-communist China.
Raddle said, “I think it’s great the way that they have portrayed it in the various scenes that they’ve produced here. I think they’ve done a great job with that. It’s enlightening for us that don’t know the culture as well.
The persecution in China continues today. Raddle was aware of some groups, “like the Uyghurs that are continuing to be persecuted there. But I know there’s different ethnic groups that are experiencing some persecution in China.”
Shen Yun is bringing awareness of this persecution to the world. “I think it’s extremely important. I think the more we know about other cultures, the better. And it’s important that people understand the Chinese culture.
Reporting by Frank Liang and Yvonne Marcotte.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
