BEAVER CREEK, Colorado—“I loved the show; the show was spectacular!” said Pam Dolan after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at Colorado’s Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek with her husband Patrick Dolan, a cloud product manager for IBM. “I loved everything about it. I love the music, the dancers, all the colors, the stories—it was amazing; I loved it very much,” Ms. Dolan said.
“Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture,” reads Shen Yun’s website. “Its stunning beauty and tremendous energy leave audiences uplifted and inspired.”
Such energy was certainly not lost on Ms. Dolan. “I felt like a little kid, you know. I just was at awe with all the beauty, and all the talent, and the music. I was just swept away—it was beautiful,” she said.
Ms. Dolan said she was also drawn by the stunning costumes donned by Shen Yun’s world-renowned dancers. “I think the costumes were amazing,” she said. “You could just tell all the beautiful detail on all of the costumes, and they just went so perfectly with the story.”
Her husband agreed. “I loved the colors of the costumes,” he said. “I thought the singing was fantastic, and I enjoyed the combination of the Asian instruments and the Western orchestra—I thought that was very entertaining.”
According to Shen Yun’s website, “The Shen Yun Orchestra combines the spirit, beauty, and distinctiveness of Chinese music with the precision, power, and grandeur of the Western symphony orchestra. The result—two great traditions producing one refreshing sound.”
“I thought it really added a different sound, and it really lent to the dancing,” Mr. Dolan added. “The extra music, the extra sound, the extra instruments—it really brought more of an authentic feel to it. So I enjoyed it a lot—I thought it was fabulous.”
A unique feature of Chinese civilization is that its history has been documented and passed down uninterrupted for 5,000 years, sometimes in vivid detail. This provides Shen Yun with vast source material, making it possible to revive this ancient culture on a present-day stage.
Mr. Dolan said he found the stories presented in each piece remarkable for their ability to provide audience members a brief, albeit profound, insight into Chinese culture. “It’s a colorful, condensed version of 5,000 years of cultural history, and it gives you a snapshot of how things are today, how things were in the past, and kind of a story of how they got from where they are to where they are now,” he explained. “It was a really enjoyable combination of past and present.”
“I would describe it as being a sensational, beautiful experience that you will remember forever—really beautiful,” Ms. Dolan added. “It spoke to my heart.”
Her husband concluded that the performance should not be passed up by anybody. “I would recommend it to anybody who has the opportunity to see it,” he said. “It was a fabulous show.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Michael Fitzgerald
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
