“It’s not just art, it’s spiritual, it’s historical. It just gives you a whole range of knowledge,” she said.
She felt it important for people to see the performance because “it opens your mind. It just teaches you so many things that are not public.” Ms. Guevara was impressed by how Shen Yun presented openly on stage what people in China are not allowed to say out loud.
“That’s a big opportunity. [Shen Yun] gets to people’s hearts in a beautiful way,” she said.
Being in the fashion industry Ms. Guevara felt inspired by Shen Yun’s aesthetics.
“I admire the costumes, the staging—everything is beautiful. I can appreciate the beauty but I think the most important thing about this performance is the learning. If you don’t know anything about Chinese history, you just get it all here in one performance,” she said.
“I just encourage everybody to watch it. I will watch it again—I’m not done.”
“The performance was fabulous. The energy behind it was splendid. It gave me a lot of warm fuzzies to see that the performance was not only beautiful, but the story behind it—that’s poignant,” he said, “I think it’s valuable for everybody to hear that.”
Mr. Williford said people in America have a lot of misconceptions about Chinese culture these days and “it’s just nice to see that we’re all human. Everyone has a culture, a family, love, and [shares] the basic values.”
“[Shen Yun] opens up your mind and gives you a better understanding of who the Chinese people are—the love, the spirit. I think that’s beautiful. Everyone should be able to see that. [The performance] gives you a feeling that we’re all in this together. I enjoyed it very much,” he said.
[epoch_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsbm5zZX6Z4[/epoch_video]