Birmingham Theatergoer Says Shen Yun Brings Inner and Outer Peace
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Henry Morison at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the ICC, in Birmingham, in the U.K., on Dec. 30, 2023. NTD
BIRMINGHAM, U.K.—With a sold-out show, Shen Yun Performing Arts graced the stage at the ICC Birmingham on Dec. 30 for their second evening performance of the 2024 season.
Small business owner Henry Morison attended the performance for the first time, and said it was “a wonderful surprise!”
“It’s definitely a unique experience. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “The stories are good stories of suffering, stories of striving, stories of endeavor and beauty.”
“There is a softness and sweetness to it,” he added. “The colors, the beauty, and the elegance … gives you a cozy feeling … it’s wonderful, it’s inspiring … it’s uplifting as well!”
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the leading classical Chinese dance company in the world. With seven companies touring the globe simultaneously, the company’s mission is to revive the traditional, divinely-inspired culture of ancient China.
Besides talented dancers, Shen Yun features a one-of-a-kind orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra, a patented animated backdrop technology that allows for seamless interaction between the dancers on stage and the background scenery, and colorful handmade costumes.
Wowed by the 3D animation, Mr. Morison said it was “very colorful” and “very clever.”
“It’s a really good combination of dance, color, and animation. I was really impressed how the dancers could disappear off the stage onto the screen—never seen that before.”
Finding Peace
Stuart Walker attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the ICC in Birmingham, England, on Dec. 30, 2023. NTD
Stuart Walker, a technical consultant, loved Shen Yun so much he came back this year to bring his wife.
“It’s just completely different from anything else that you can see,” he said. “It’s enlightening.”
Mr. Walker commented that the show, aside from its incredible beauty, is spiritually relevant in today’s society.
Over the past decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used various campaigns, like the Cultural Revolution, to systematically uproot China’s spiritual and traditional beliefs, bringing the age-old culture to the brink of extinction.
According to the company’s website, Shen Yun says their performances demonstrate “China before communism.”
“The religious factors and … the spiritual factors around are always relevant, and more often today with all the conflicts that are going on around the world,” he said.
“It just brings a peace, really—an inner peace and an outer peace,” he added. “It brings you to a point where you can’t be aggressive, or you can’t be angry at something … It’s calming.”
China was once known as “The Land of the Divine,” and the Shen Yun performance presents this divinely-inspired culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophical traditions. In the past, artists looked to the divine for inspiration and cultivated virtue in order to create uplifting art.
Today, Shen Yun’s artists follow this noble tradition, which is why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun, the company explains on its website.
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