SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Father Gifts Daughter a Ticket to Shen Yun for Her Birthday—A Delightful Experience

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Father Gifts Daughter a Ticket to Shen Yun for Her Birthday—A Delightful Experience
Matthew and Megan Morrison attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the First Interstate Center for the Arts, Spokane, Wash. on April 12, 2022. Frank Zhang/The Epoch Times
SPOKANE, Wash.—What a more touching way for a father to express his love for his daughter on her birthday than a ticket to the world’s most authentic traditional Chinese dance and music performance, Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Matthew Morrison and his daughter, Megan, had come to the First Interstate Center for the Arts in Spokane to see Shen Yun for the first time.

Matthew, CEO of a communications company, described Shen Yun as “unique,” and said that it was very important to bring back traditional culture.

“It’s nice to see something that is recognizably different [from other performances] …  but that it has an element of tradition …  and to be able to see something that I’ve never seen before is very entertaining,” he said.

New York-based Shen Yun’s goal is to show the world the true Chinese culture, one that survived for over 5,000 years but was all but destroyed by the Chinese communist regime within 70 years.

Megan, a 16-year-old student, felt the educational aspect of Shen Yun was very interesting.

She felt the idea that ‘communism is not really that bad’ was being pushed in society with some people being influenced by it.

“And then you see the perspective of people who have been [living under] those kinds of governments and what they think of them. It’s very interesting to … get that point of view from a different country,” she said.

Shen Yun’s diverse repertoire of dances depicts different aspects of Chinese society in days gone by. While they include comical episodes, legends, historical events, and folk dances from China’s vast regions, they also portray the current persecution of the ancient spiritual practice Falun Gong by the Chinese regime.
Megan enjoys jazz and tap dancing. She was intrigued by the dances in Shen Yun.

“It’s really cool. I’ve been dancing for four years, but obviously not in this style of dance. So, it’s really interesting and really cool to see all of the different intricacies that aren’t in my corner of dance,” she said.

All of the performances were amazing to Megan but she particularly enjoyed the dance, “Monkeying Around in Paradise.” This piece follows the antics of the Monkey King and his friends who feature in the well-known Chinese novel, Journey to the West. “I just thought that [dance] was fun,” she said.

Matthew was surprised by how much he enjoyed the performances. “And the intricate movements of the different props have been very good across all the different dances,” he said.

Shen Yun’s orchestra, a combination of classical Eastern and Western instruments, also surprised Matthew.

“[It was] excellent. I actually leaned over to my daughter at one point and was making the comment that it’s hard to believe that [the music] is not recorded because it’s so clean. It’s very enjoyable,” he said.

While Shen Yun can be seen in most countries, it has been banned in China.

“It’s sad that we have societies that move in a way that they want to suppress the past. And to not be able to have it shown, or seen, or enjoyed …  also expresses that there may be some greater power in [Shen Yun] that they’re worried about it,” said Matthew.

With restrictions around the pandemic being loosened, more people are beginning to resume a normal life.

“It’s great to be here with everyone and see the joy and the happiness that’s just been expressed through the dance. And so, it’s very encouraging,” said Matthew.

Reporting by Frank Zhang and Diane Cordemans. The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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