SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘A Wonderful, Positive Influence for All People of All Demographics’

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Shen Yun Is ‘A Wonderful, Positive Influence for All People of All Demographics’
David Pack at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater on March 20, 2024. NTD

SALT LAKE CITY—University professor David Pack believes that Shen Yun Performing Arts is an experience that people from all backgrounds can enjoy.

“A wonderful, positive influence for all people of all demographics, all walks of life, all lifestyles. No matter what you like to do in life, this is a great message of being able to understand the differences in others, showing compassion and love, and respecting the divine nature that we all have,” said Mr. Pack, professor of business, communication, and fine arts at multiple institutions, including Utah University.

Both performing arts and fine arts deal with beauty and perception. Mr. Pack praised Shen Yun for its exquisite show of dance, music, and emotion.

“Being a professor of fine arts, I feel that I can understand and see the beauty, the grace, the majesty, the precision of what goes on on stage. This is world-class dancing that we’re seeing tonight, and not just dancing but the portrayal of emotion in instrument and voice and in body. It was wonderful,” he said.

Shen Yun is based in New York, and its artists are trained in classical Chinese dance.

“I love how the choreography is just so spot on. It’s hard to be able to do that with so many people. And just to have such a wonderfully large cast to be so talented, and to be able to tour around the world. That’s fantastic,” continued Mr. Pack.

One dance made a lasting impression on him due to the great collaboration between the dancers.

“This year I really liked the flower dance. It was amazing how 13 dancers with precision and synchronicity on stage could create the vision of being a flower with the fans and their costumes and the choreography,” shared Mr. Pack.

Shen Yun currently has eight companies, and each year, Shen Yun puts on an all-new production.

“It’s obvious that it’s well-rehearsed. ... I would recommend for anyone to come see it. I come every year,” he said.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Mr. Pack said he believes that the more culture one is exposed to, the better we are able to accept each other.

“I think the more that we’re exposed to different thoughts, different cultures, it really enlarges our scope of thought and understanding and hopefully tolerance and acceptance of those that are different than us,” he stated.

Shen Yun’s digital backdrop is patented technology. Beautifully designed settings and animation extend the stage, giving the characters portrayed on stage the freedom to go anywhere the story deems necessary.

“The multimedia presentation is incredible to have live dancers on stage incorporated with digital backdrops. ... It definitely helped portraying all the seasons, spring, summer, winter, fall. ... It was a symphony of color in and of itself on stage,” he said.

Due to its efforts in raising awareness of the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Shen Yun is unable to perform in China today.

“[Shen Yun is] A wonderful message of freedom and divinity that unfortunately can’t be portrayed in communist China, but [I am] grateful that they’re established in New York, here in America, with more religious freedom,” he stated.

Traditional Chinese culture was heavily influenced by a devotion to the divine. However, the CCP’s totalitarian rule forbids its people from having any true religious affiliations.

“[It’s] wonderful that you can have that message of God and how God helps us regardless of what persuasion we might pursue in terms of our religion. Hopefully, we all realize that we’re more similar than different in our beliefs of God and love and charity and freedom,” he continued.

“Shen Yun can be applicable to all religions because it’s talking about God’s divinity within us and how we as sons and daughters of God should be interacting with each other, striving to bring beauty and grace to the world in our own unique way, our own unique dance through life with our own unique choreography,” he added.

Reporting by Nancy Ma, NTD, and Maria Han.
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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