Rodel Frazer, an actor said, “I don’t know if I have the words to describe it, but it’s a transcendental experience. The first time I ever saw it, I couldn’t believe my eyes, I couldn’t believe my ears, everything—nothing like it.
“I couldn’t resist the option of coming back again this year, and once again, my expectations have been absolutely blown out of the water. ”
Gina Mikkelsen, a commercial actor, said, “I think it was incredibly beautiful. I was taken back by the music, the colors, the smiles on everybody’s faces, the stories were really intriguing and fun. It allowed me to think about something outside of what I know in my life, it’s a cultural thing that I don’t think I’ve experienced myself being a Canadian ... and it was beautiful.”
Mr. Frazer said, “It’s not something you encounter in your day to day here in the Western world, so being able to have the gates open to you a bit, to see millennia of culture right in front of you, it’s mind boggling that such a legacy continues from so long ago to this day, and [it’s] done so well by such talented performers. It’s really, really amazing.”
Ms. Mikkelsen said, “All the different stories were fascinating. Some of them were funny, some of them were heart wrenching, and it was neat to watch it without talking. It was just the connection of the actions and the music. I really enjoyed that because then, I could make the story go in my own head. I could figure it out myself without it being told to me but through dance. It was fun.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun has been touring the world since 2006 and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Theatergoers also said they enjoyed the spiritual themes in the performance.
Mr. Frazer said, “The first introduction, seeing the Creator come to Earth and transcend in reverse, becoming mortal and making our world as it is, I can barely contain myself anytime I see it, it’s really moving. This show has been nothing but proof of the divine nature of movement. And no one does it better than you guys, as far as I’m concerned.”
Ms. Gina said, “I heard that Shen Yun changes every year, it’s rewritten every year. That’s fantastic. And that means that there is always a new story to be told, and there is always a new representation and new expression of what we’ve learned even the year before. So I think that’s fantastic.
“And I would come again. I definitely would come again,” she said.
Mr. Frazer said, “Artistic director, your talent is out of this world. I’ve never in my life seen something that really compares to it, and I hope that you know your talent continues on for decades and decades onwards, because I’ll keep coming back so long as there’s life left in my veins.”
