SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Author Says Shen Yun’s ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’

Feb 04, 2024

MILWAUKEE, Wis.—Opening their 2024 season to a full house in Wisconsin, Shen Yun Performing Arts returned to the Miller High Life Theatre on Feb. 3.

After missing the performance in both Dallas and Chicago, Sara Connor, author and president of the Forest History Association of Wisconsin, was so grateful to have the opportunity to see Shen Yun in Wisconsin with Bruce Clark, a retired professional ski coach.

“I waited so long to see it that it just sort of elevates you into a feeling of a breath of fresh air,” she said.

“I like the originality and the talent of the dancers and the musicians,” she added. “All tied together, it’s really tremendous!”

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Since 2006, Shen Yun has performed at top theatres worldwide. The company performs classical Chinese dance, ethnic, folk dances, and story-based dances, accompanied by a unique orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments with classical Western instruments.

Mrs. Connor was also amazed by the company’s patented method of integrating a 3D animated backdrop with the stage performance, allowing the performers to remarkably travel back and forth between the stage and the background projection.

As an award-winning author of “Wisconsin’s Flying Trees in World War II: A Victory for American Forest Products and Allied Aviation,” Mrs. Connor understands the tremendous amount of work that is needed to compose an entire work. She was incredibly impressed that Shen Yun produces a new show every year with new music, new choreography, and new costumes.

“For [Shen Yun] to be able to do it every year, they’ve got to pull from many genres and very talented writers to pull it all together, especially doing all the composing,” she said.

Enamored by the tremendous gift of Shen Yun’s artistic director D.F., Mrs. Connor said, “He’s done it all: He’s written it, he’s done the music, he’s done the choreography. … It’s very well done, and it translates well for people who don’t know a lot about China or what China was like before [communism].”

“It takes a tremendous gift to do that because not everyone can tell the story on a simple level [and] translate it into more complex ideas, and he’s managed to do that,” she said.

Along with myths and legends, Shen Yun presents story-based scenes of present-day life for Falun Dafa practitioners, who live by moral teachings based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance and practice simple meditative exercises.

In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution campaign against the spiritual practice, which is also called Falun Gong, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

Mrs. Connor said she not only appreciated Shen Yun demonstrating the history of ancient China, but also “the goodness of an enormous population.”

“[Dafa’s] the center of goodness from everybody’s perspective, and you have to take the high road … to make the world a better place,” she added.

“We need a little more introspection … and we need to appreciate everyone,” she added.

Reporting by Frank Liang and Jennifer Schneider.

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