SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Repeat Patrons Return to Immerse Themselves in Shen Yun’s Ancient Traditions

SHARE
Repeat Patrons Return to Immerse Themselves in Shen Yun’s Ancient Traditions
Donnarae Smith at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2024. NTD
CLEVELAND, Ohio—Donnarae Smith, owner of Brightside Inc., has repeatedly seen Shen Yun Performing Arts since the company’s inception in 2006.

“This is one of my favorite performances to attend,” she said of Shen Yun, which is showing this weekend at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square.

“I felt emotionally touched by the performances that I’ve seen in years past as well as today,” she added. “It’s exciting every year!”

Aside from the performers—who she said are “exquisite” with “such discipline, such precision, such athletic excellence"—Ms. Smith loves the spiritual themes of Shen Yun.

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts presents story-based dances depicting heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales spanning 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture.

According to the company’s website, the presented heroes embody the most exalted virtues of Chinese civilization and convey morals still relevant to the modern day.

“I love the spiritual part because it speaks the truth,” she said, “We all get distracted, our thoughts get distracted, we think about things that are not important, and if we’re not careful, we will follow the path that is evil rather than the path that is filled with love and that brings us to eternal life.”

Ms. Smith expressed appreciation for how Shen Yun presents story-based dances about the modern-day persecution of Falun Dafa meditators in China, as well as the gravity of falling prey to the ideologies of communism, atheism, and the theory of evolution.
Falun Dafa, a meditation discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, has been persecuted in China due to the ruling communist party’s atheistic worldview since 1999. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution campaign against the spiritual practice, and its adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse for refusing to give up their faith.

“It was a courageous performance to speak the truth about God, to speak the truth about what’s happening in the world. And that takes a tremendous amount of fearless performing arts,” she said. “Shen Yun is fearless!”

“The most important takeaway I have is to understand that there are people who are courageous and speaking out about the evil, the communism in our world,” she added.

Love Overcoming Evil

David Simmons at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2024. (Nancy Ma/The Epoch Times)
David Simmons at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2024. Nancy Ma/The Epoch Times
David Simmons, a game developer of Phoenix Resonance, enjoyed the variety of experiences throughout Shen Yun’s performance.

“Each part utilized things in a very effective way,” he said. “As a game developer, you’re creating an experience for the players and … with the dance, you’re creating a very pleasant experience through the dance.”

He was also very impressed with Shen Yun’s patented method of integrating a 3D animated backdrop with the stage performance and “how it synced with the dance by being able to have the dancers appear as if they’re coming in and out of the screen.”

Stirred by the scenes regarding the persecution, Mr. Simmons said, “I’ve already felt very deep compassion towards people in China … and seeing it happen—not only to Christians—but to [the Falun Dafa] was heartbreaking to hear about. I think there’s an importance in bringing awareness to these sorts of issues that are happening.”

He said that the compassion and forbearance conveyed by the Falun Dafa mediators in the final dance story was very inspirational.

“With the ending, it was very touching because it’s showing the power of loving your enemies … and being able to conquer that heinous persecution with love,” he said. “Seeing that in action was good and being rooted in your beliefs.”

Immersed in Ancient Culture

Tim Rose and his wife Kelly Rose at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2024. (Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times)
Tim Rose and his wife Kelly Rose at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 27, 2024. Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times

Tim Rose, a professor at Kent State University, and his wife, Dr. Kelly Rose, a researcher at Ohio State, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts for another year at the KeyBank State Theatre on Jan. 27.

For 18 years, Shen Yun has performed at top theaters worldwide with a mission to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture. Demonstrating “China before communism,” Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China.

“I love that Americans get to experience some degree of Chinese culture that isn’t first filtered through the Communist Party. And that’s one of the big reasons we come back,” Mr. Rose said.

“There’s a lot of traditional Chinese culture that was suppressed or lost after the communist revolution … so I’m very, very happy that this is here,” he added.

China was once known as “The Land of the Divine,” and Shen Yun presents this culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. As such, the performance often includes spiritually uplifting messages, according to the company’s website.

In regards to Shen Yun’s story-based dances, Mr. Rose said, “It’s such a great demonstration of how you can focus on a large number of everyday issues that matter to people because of the way the story can be told … you can tell so much with the mystical elements that come in with Chinese culture … and you definitely see that it’s still [a] middle kingdom-like feel of mysticism.”

Mrs. Rose was likewise thrilled about the principles and lessons depicted in Shen Yun’s dance pieces.

“I think this is fantastic, it is breathtaking, and it is so powerful,” she said.

“This is something that we should continually immerse ourselves in, and it is something that you always have an opportunity to learn and continue to add to the foundation of your learning.”

Reporting by Nancy Ma, Charlie Lu, and Jennifer Schneider.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
Related Topics
shen yun
SHARE