SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Attorney and Ophthalmologist Praise Shen Yun’s Depiction of ‘China Before Communism’

Mar 22, 2025

3/22/2025Updated: 3/22/2025

INDIANAPOLIS—Steve Demick, an ophthalmologist, and his stepson Anthony Skowronek, an attorney, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler Arts Center on March 22.

“[It was] very nice,” Mr. Demick said. “Beautiful dancing, beautiful music. It was fun, a lot of fun.”

“I think the Chinese culture is beautiful, and I think this is honestly a great representation of it,” Mr. Skowronek said.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception in 2006, Shen Yun’s mission has been to revive traditional Chinese culture and show audiences the beauty of “China before communism.”

“I think it’s interesting because you never hear about China other than it being in the light of communism, so it’s hard to understand what it may look like without it,” Mr. Skowronek said. “I think China represents itself as there has always been communism, so that fact that there was a time of China before communism, I think that just opens the door to a new idea of what China may have looked like.”

“When you think about 5,000 years of history compared to 70-some years of communism, it just is a drop in the bucket—what is happening now,“ Mr. Demick said. ”You think about human history as a struggle against those who seek to oppress and use people, and those who seek freedom and to help one another. I really like that message, too—the notion of sacrifice for the greater good and for other people. That’s really a pretty stark comparison between good and evil.”

Shen Yun’s performance includes story-based dances, some of which are set in modern-day China and depict the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of followers of faith.

“Here in the USA, you just don’t think that stuff exists,” said Mr. Skowronek, who felt that seeing the persecution being depicted on stage was a reminder that “you shouldn’t take your rights and your freedom, your God-given rights, for granted.”

Traditional Chinese culture is deeply rooted in spirituality, yet when the Chinese Communist Party seized power in 1949, it enforced its materialist, atheist ideologies.

“You don’t really hear a lot about the spiritual side of China ... but [Shen Yun] does show how important faith is to a community and a country, and how that can keep a country strong and hold it together,” Mr. Skowronek said.

Mr. Skowronek and Mr. Demick also praised the performers and the visual effects in Shen Yun’s performance.

“The choreography, the coordination between all the dancers, I didn’t see one thing out of place,” Mr. Demick said. “They were all twirling and spinning and dancing and jumping in unison. It was really, really beautiful. That’s got to be incredibly hard to accomplish, to have that many people working together that closely.”

“[There were] so many colors that it’s hard to fathom,” Mr. Skowronek said. “I think they have a great idea of what heaven on earth may look like.”

Reporting by Charlie Lu and Wandi Zhu.

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