SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘Absolute Perfection’: Dance Academy Founder Applauds Shen Yun Dancers

Feb 14, 2025

FRANKFURT—When the curtain rises and the mist on the stage clears, heavenly scenes and blooming gardens shine before the audience. The New York-based classical Chinese dance and music ensemble Shen Yun Performing Arts has made it its mission to bring the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture back to life. On Feb. 8, Nina Teza, founder of the Dance & Health Academy in Mannheim, Germany, attended the Shen Yun performance in Frankfurt, accompanied by pharmacist Elvira Greber and Jessica Frei, an administrative employee.

“I already knew that classical Chinese dance is as demanding as classical ballet,” said Nina Teza, who delights her audiences with a variety of dance styles such as flamenco, oriental dance, and Bollywood dance.

Now she has experienced classical Chinese dance live with the New York ensemble–and was full of praise. It was dancing at the highest level, she said.

“The highest level of difficulty for dancers. Absolute perfection, perfect synchronicity, perfect body control,” she said.

She also found the depiction of modern-day China interesting. During the performance, many audiences say they discovered a stark contrast between ancient Chinese culture, which is characterized by divine belief, and modern-day China, where the Chinese Communist Party has taken power.

Ms. Teza said through the performance, she understood the religious persecution and lack of freedom under the Chinese communist regime and why Shen Yun artists founded their academy and company “in New York, precisely to bring this to the stage.

Ms. Frei was also impressed by the performance and the traditional culture it conveyed.

“I think it’s generally important to maintain tradition. I mean, especially here in Germany, I don’t think we have anything that traditional and I think that’s a shame. It brings people together when you have something like that,” she said.

She said the music, with its meditative character, moved her.

“And the movement too— everything is so fluid. I think it’s beautiful,” she said.

Astrid Bonewitz, an architect specializing in monument preservation, came to Shen Yun with her husband Franz Wakan, a former accountant and controller in several large companies. The architect said she was surprised by the performance, which she enjoyed very much.

“Very, very beautiful, very elegant. It touches the heart,” she said. “I feel connected to this elegance and physical beauty of dance.”

She found the buildings from ancient China shown in the stage design inspiring; they were brought to life through a special digital animation.

Her companion also took home many historical impressions.

Many people do not know “what has developed over thousands of years,” he said. “And the dances that were performed today, with their aesthetics and [tumbling], were really very, very beautiful.”

He noted the importance of including the stories set in the modern day, which touch on the Chinese communist regime’s religious persecution.

“It may open the eyes of the people who have come here today, who are not yet aware of what is happening in our current time, and shake them awake, perhaps to look at things in our current time with different eyes,” Mr. Wakan said.

His wife said she highly recommended Shen Yun.

“It’s also an inspiration to look in a different direction, not just here in Germany, but also consciously to China,” Ms. Bonewitz said.

Reporting by Yu Ping, NTD, and Susanne Ausic.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.