SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Nashville Theatergoers Touched by Shen Yun’s Beauty

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Nashville Theatergoers Touched by Shen Yun’s Beauty
Paula and David Smith attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville on Feb. 24. Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—David Smith, a retired lieutenant colonel, and his wife Paula Smith watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on Feb. 24.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Mrs. Smith said during the intermission, adding that she had been hoping to see the performance for a long time.

“The dancing is fabulous,” said Mr. Smith. “It’s beautiful, it’s athletic. It’s just fabulous, just incredible.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists who made it their mission to revive traditional Chinese culture and the beauty of China before communism through classical Chinese dance and music. Since its inception, Shen Yun has grown from one to eight equally-sized companies that tour the world simultaneously.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith enjoyed the song performed in the traditional bel-canto style.

“He had an incredible voice,” Mr. Smith commented.

The song’s lyrics urged a return to traditional values, which Mrs. Smith concurred.

“I think it’s … very much right, because a lot of the modern stuff is what’s causing society to break down,” she said. “Sometimes when you go forward, you’re not really going forward, you’re kind of going backwards, and I think that’s what’s going on.”

Jeff and Shannon Duggin attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville on Feb. 24. (Sharon Lin/The Epoch Times)
Jeff and Shannon Duggin attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville on Feb. 24. Sharon Lin/The Epoch Times

Also among the audience were Jeff Duggin, a sales and marketing specialist, and Shannan Duggin, a residential supervisor.

“I thought it was beautiful,” said Mrs. Duggin. “I’ve always wanted to come.”

Mrs. Duggin was deeply touched by the music performed by Shen Yun’s live orchestra, which combines traditional Chinese and Western instruments.

“It’s hard to put it into words,” said Mrs. Duggin as she tried her best to describe the music. “It’s just beautiful. It draws out the emotion in you. I started getting teary-eyed as I was just listening to the different instruments and just how everything kind of plays together.”
The audience learns during the performance that Shen Yun’s name means “the beauty of divine beings dancing.”

“When they were talking about the description of Shen Yun, and how it is a mixture of the divine and what comes from inside—it was just beautiful all the way around.”

Mr. Duggin shared his thoughts on the importance of tradition to society.

“Tradition creates a very reliable society,” he said. “Without tradition, things fall apart. When people don’t have identity—it seems that things just don’t matter like they should, and everybody matters.”

Reporting by Sherry Dong, Sharon Lin, and Wandi Zhu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.