AUSTIN, Texas—Shen Yun Performing Arts played its first show at The Long Center in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, displaying the breadth and variety of China’s traditional culture.
Howard T. Levine, a professional guitar musician who has played in a number of bands and also works as a music teacher, attended Thursday night’s performance. With him was his friend Lucas Thoning, who works at a retreat center in Alaska that teaches yoga among other things.
“I liked the show,” Mr. Levine said. “Especially I’ve liked classical Chinese music for a long time. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Shen Yun seeks to revive China’s 5,000-year-old culture through dance and the arts, the New York-based company’s website states. It features an orchestra that accompanies each performance, which joins together classical Western and Chinese music with Chinese instrumentation as the lead.
“The productions were beautiful, very exciting; everything worked great,” Mr. Levine said.
Several of Shen Yun’s pieces depict the current, ongoing persecution of Falun Dafa in China—otherwise known as Falun Gong—where practitioners of this meditation practice have been subjected to a litany of abuses for the past 12 years.
“I’ve been reading about the Falun Gong phenomenon for several decades now and also how practitioners have been persecuted in China,” Mr. Levine said.
Touching upon what Mr. Levine said, Mr. Thoning said that “the amount of dedication it took to perform to this level, and then the positive message they shared, is so moving and it goes right to the core of one’s being.”
Shen Yun’s performers are trained in classical Chinese dance, using it as their main medium of expression. The technique has been passed down for thousands of years and is considered one of the most comprehensive in the world, according to the company’s website.
“I am very moved; anytime I see someone respond to a negative thing in a very positive way, instead of fighting back in a negative way, spreading a positive message,” Mr. Thoning added, referring to Shen Yun’s overall theme.
He added, “It’s the only way we will all change and progress as people, is to do that, move in that positive direction.”
Shen Yun’s “uplifting, very positive” and “in a very artistic way, shares that deeper journey that’s happening,” Mr. Thoning added.
Reporting by Amy Hu and Jack Phillips.
Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform at The Long Center, Austin, Dec. 29 and 30.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
