“I love the whole interactive media with the screen. It’s pretty cool,” Mr. Perez said.
LAS VEGAS—Shen Yun made its 2013 premier in Las Vegas at Reynolds Hall in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts on Friday evening, March 15.
Enjoying the performance were Benny and Wendy Perez, both pastors in the Las Vegas area. Mr. Perez has a growing membership at his church, and has been hot on the scene, appearing on the TV program The 700 Club, as well as on TBN, Daystar, NBC, and ABC networks.
“I think it’s great, I love the dance,” said Mr. Perez of Shen Yun.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive China’s ancient culture, bringing to the world the stories and legends through classical Chinese dance and music. Based in New York, Shen Yun has three companies that will travel to over 100 cities in 20 countries this year.
“I love the whole interactive media with the screen. It’s pretty cool,” Mr. Perez said. Backing up each dance is a digital screen, setting the scene, whether it be China’s beautiful mountains or a heavenly paradise. In some pieces, the dancers interact with the screen, appearing to leap onto or off of it.
Mrs. Perez also enjoyed the performance. “I think that everything is designed really well,” she said.
She also thought it was paced well: “Very, very enjoyable. Keeps it moving and done very, very well.”
Each Shen Yun performance comprises over a dozen dance pieces, interspersed with operatic bel canto singers, singing in Chinese with the lyrics projected on the backdrop. Throughout the event, the emcees introduce and explain aspects of the pieces.
Not knowing much about China before, the couple found the educational experience was also a plus. “It’s kind of like getting a crash course in Chinese history, 5,000 years of it, in a very artistic way. I am really enjoying it,” Mr. Perez said.
The feelings Shen Yun evoked were also varied: from peacefulness to excitement. “Some of the scenes I [saw were] kind of peaceful,” said Mr. Perez, saying he enjoyed scenes of the countryside. But he also enjoyed the other extreme. “I particularly like the war, the fighting,” he said referring to one of the pieces. “I am a man, so I kind of like that engagement. I thought that was good.”
Mrs. Perez enjoyed some different aspects of the performance. “I like the diversity. I thought there was a lot of diversity and the culture was so vast. So you are just able to get a little picture, a glimpse into the various cultures encapsulated into one,” she said. “I thought it was pretty amazing.”
She mentioned the cultural diversity. “Sometimes in America we don’t get the broad spectrum of cultures out there. It is refreshing to just be here to be able to glean and learn and experience for a moment.”
Both were also “thinking that our kids would really like this as well. It would be good to expose them, to give them a broader picture of our world,” Mrs. Perez said.
Mr. Perez thought that the members of his church would enjoy the performance, “particularly, I think that they would enjoy the ... dancing.”
“It is very engaging. It’s not a static show,” he said. “There are different dances and different scenes, different time periods.”
Mrs. Perez summed up the performance as “striking, colorful, and engaging.”
Reporting by Albert Roman and Ben Bendig.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is performing in Las Vegas, at Reynolds Hall, in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, March 15–17. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
The Epoch Times publishes in 35
countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
