SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘A Little Piece of Heaven Entered My Heart’: Theatergoers Uplifted by Shen Yun

Feb 22, 2023

SALT LAKE CITY—Multimedia is a double-edged sword. It brings us useful information and plenty of entertainment, but it also can be the culprit of hours of wasted time and poor social skills. In Shen Yun Performing Arts, the Becks said what they experienced was wholly positive.

“I feel like I just witnessed something divine. I feel like a little piece of heaven entered my heart as I was watching. That’s right. I feel like I can go home a better person,” said Tessa Beck, who came to Shen Yun with Jeff Beck, a seminary teacher.

“I think because, there’s a lot of truth in what they teach. We should be kind to each other and we should recognize that there’s a greater power in this world than the darkness that we see, especially on the news,” added Mrs. Beck. The two attended Shen Yun’s opening performance in Salt Lake City at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater on Feb. 21.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company, and aims to present “China before communism.”

Having lived in China, the couple could tell the difference between what they saw in China and what New York-based Shen Yun was presenting.

“Compassion is one of the principles, and you see that in the performances,” said Mr. Beck.

“My heart aches for our friends in China that I think have lost the opportunity to understand who they really are. Exactly. Thank you. Such beautiful work,” she said.

The couple also described what is was like living under the indoctrination of communism.

“Even on your phone in China, you get texts from the government saying, ‘Remember, be good neighbors, be kind to each other.’ And everyone is taught this in school. Be nice, be nice, be good. But you don’t see it, you don’t feel it. Here you can see it, you can feel it in this performance of what it means to have the freedom to choose to be kind and good instead of being forced,” said Mrs. Beck.

Shen Yun is using classical Chinese dance and music to depict the beauty that can be found in China’s five millennia of civilization.

“That’s beautiful. The culture captures a deeper essence of our humanity than communism ever will,” said Mrs. Beck. “I love that.”

“In the cultural traditions of the dance that we were reading in the program, it talks about the expression and the emotion that they have in their dances. You see that here in the performance. You can see how this is the true Chinese culture, is the expression, and the beauty that comes through,” added Mr. Beck.

With one of the longest histories in world to draw inspiration from, Shen Yun will not be running out of stories to tell.

“It’s wonderful. I think as an American, or from the United States, we don’t have a very deep culture,” Mr. Beck said. “Whereas this culture from China is so deep. And I think we long for that. We yearn for that. We want to feel a part of something bigger and grander.”

Reporting by Lily Yu 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.