HOUSTON—Geraldo Garcia and Martha Diaz had an interest in Chinese history, and found the perfect opportunity to learn more about it in Shen Yun Performing Arts.
“The costumes, oh, amazing. The colors,” said Mr. Garcia, a professor, after seeing the performance at the CFISD Visual and Performing Arts Center on Feb. 16. “Absolutely, I recommend it.”
Ms. Diaz, an operations manager, also highly recommended
the experience.
“Especially if you like dances and choreography, they should come and see it,” she said.
The two said they had not known much about traditional
Chinese culture, so they were happy to see it being preserved by Shen Yun. Many audience members said much the same—after all, the culture Shen Yun brings to life on stage is one that was once nearly lost.
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s leading classical Chinese dance company. Through
music and
dance, Shen Yun aims to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, sharing with audiences the beauty of China before communism.
Also seeing Shen Yun for the first time were Kemal and Sarwat Hasan, who had been interested in the pre-communist
history and culture of China.
“Love it. Love the music, the dances, the costumes. Beautiful. Loved it,” said Mr. Hasan, an auditor. “Ancient Chinese culture, the civilization, 5,000 years, you know, all these
ethnic groups, different dances, different styles. Absolutely very educational.”
Mrs. Hasan said the
performance likely exposed many things to the audience members, things they did not know about China.
“I really like it. I like the colorfulness and the openness of the show. It’s like you’re sharing a lot that probably a lot of people here don’t know,” she said. “It’s a lot of exposure for people that don’t know about China and what’s all is going on. So I really like it.”
For instance, Mrs. Hasan said, she knew of the atheistic culture of China under communism, but not that the Chinese had believed their culture a gift from the heavens prior to communism.
“Very enlightening,” said Mr. Hasan, adding that he learned much about the spiritual traditional
Chinese culture, as well as the oppression under the Chinese communist regime.
The couple said they had initially hesitated over splurging for tickets, but then decided they had to seize their chance before
Shen Yun left the city.
“It’s worth it. Totally worth it,” Mr. Hasan said.
Reporting by Sonia Wu and Catherine Yang.
