SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘Full of Meaning and Beauty,’ Says French Company Director

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Shen Yun Is ‘Full of Meaning and Beauty,’ Says French Company Director
Karine and Fred Havas enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Palais des Congress de Paris on Feb. 27, 2024. Ying Wu/The Epoch Times

PARIS, France—Financial director Karine Havas and her husband Fred, a sports club manager, attended Shen Yun’s evening show on Feb. 27. It was the first of the company’s seven consecutive shows at the Palais des Congres de Paris.

Mrs. Havas said Shen Yun was a very special experience because walking in, “You don’t expect to see so many programs all representing a different period in Chinese history.”

“With the impressive flips and tumbling techniques, lots of colors and sparkles—the show was already very exceptional in its own right,” she explained.

“Yet, there is also a deep message you can understand—one that I hadn’t expected before the show. I didn’t think it would be so powerful—full of meaning and beauty.”

Mr. Havas, too, said he thought the show “was quite poetic and compassionate.”

“There was a message of the artists’ desire to pass on the richness of China’s history. It was, for us, a very beautiful discovery.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was established in 2006 by a group of leading Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist party. Under the regime’s violent rule, China’s 5,000 years of traditional culture were destroyed, and the spread of atheism was rampant.
Yet, for thousands of years, Chinese people were very spiritual and believed that their culture was a gift from the heavens. Shen Yun is now dedicated to reviving these traditions and showcasing to the world, through dance and music, the beauty of China before communism.

The couple loved Shen Yun’s music.

“We really appreciated the music. It was clearly very moving. The orchestra is spectacular,” Mr. Havas said.

During the show, Shen Yun’s bilingual hosts provided an introduction to Chinese music, highlighting an interesting linguistic connection.

They explained that in the Chinese language, ’medicine‘ and ’music’ share the same character but with different pronunciations. In fact, music is considered one of the earliest forms of medicine in the world.

Mrs. Havas couldn’t agree more.

“You can really feel it when you come out of the show. It’s like you’re filled with poetry—just like what [Mr. Havas] was talking about,” she said.

“The different instruments, they are complementary. In Europe, we’re not used to hearing these different instruments together, and it’s really well done.”

According to the company’s website, Shen Yun’s orchestra is the first in the world to permanently combine ancient Chinese and Western instruments.

Using classical Western orchestration as the foundation, Shen Yun’s original compositions highlight traditional Chinese instruments such as the two-stringed erhu and the pipa—an ancient Chinese lute. Bringing to its audience the best of both worlds.

Reflecting on Shen Yun artists’ mission to bring back traditional culture, Mrs. Havas said the values of “truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance” resonated very clearly throughout the performance.

“It’s clear—you can feel it. There was courage, too,” she said.

In the face of severe persecution from the Chinese Communist Party, “the directors and the performers expressed their points of view and conviction with a lot of courage.”
Reporting by Ying Wu and Jennifer Tseng.
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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