SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Business Owner Felt Shen Yun’s Spiritual Energy Before Entering the Auditorium

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Business Owner Felt Shen Yun’s Spiritual Energy Before Entering the Auditorium
Shen Yun Performing Arts New World Company's curtain call at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center on April 7, 2024. The Epoch Times

WICHITA, Kan.—Teresa Frye, owner and operator of Made Perfect Cleaning Service, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time with Dalin Frye at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center on April 7.

“It’s the most beautiful performance I’ve ever seen,” said Mr. Frye.

Teresa Frye and Dalin Frye at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in Wichita on April 7. (Nancy Ma/The Epoch Times)
Teresa Frye and Dalin Frye at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in Wichita on April 7. Nancy Ma/The Epoch Times

Amazed by the energy and spirituality of the performance, Mrs. Frye said she “felt a special energy right before I was walking into the concert hall … before it even began.”

“A magical, colorful [performance] … we loved it very much,” she added.

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with folk dances and solo performances, the production depicts story-based pieces that tell tales from ancient times to the modern day.

According to the company’s website, the presented heroes embody the most exalted virtues of Chinese civilization and convey morals still relevant to the modern day.

Mrs. Frye thought the dances relaying stories about “relationships and yearning and loss,” to be the most inspiring.

“There isn’t one person that didn’t … relate to each story or at least one,” she said.

She defined the energy from the performance as “high energy … with an underlying feeling of divineness” and said it brought the audience members into a state of “oneness” with a “calm, relaxed, [and] peaceful” mood.

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 and present China’s authentic and spiritual culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophies.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture after it came close to death under the tyranny of communism since the seizure of power by the Chinese communist regime in 1949. The company says its performances demonstrate “China before communism.”

Mrs. Frye said her main takeaway from the performance was to “share the message and to never give up.”

She wanted to thank Shen Yun Performing Arts for their “hard work … wonderful talent and craft.”

“That takes a lot of work, and passion and dedication, and they sure showed it and gave us their best, and I think everybody felt that and appreciated it.”

Keeping Faith

Stuart Bruce, school security officer, also attended Shen Yun for the first time at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center on April 7.

“It was just beautiful, and the stories behind the dances were very enlightening,” he said.

Stuart Bruce at Shen Yun at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in Wichita on April 7. (Sonia Wu/The Epoch Times)
Stuart Bruce at Shen Yun at the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in Wichita on April 7. Sonia Wu/The Epoch Times
Mr. Bruce was amazed and dazzled by Shen Yun’s colorful costumes and the company’s patented method of integrating a 3D animated backdrop with the stage performance.

The digital backdrop allows the performers to remarkably travel back and forth between the stage and the background projection.

“The choreography was spot on … between the background screen and [the dancers] going in and out of the background, that was just amazing … I don’t think it could be beat,” he said.

“It was a very moving experience in a lot of ways,” said Mr. Bruce, who was stirred by Shen Yun’s demonstration of the persecution happening in modern China.

Along with myths and legends from ancient times, Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

“The message itself was very spiritual … and how their faith brought them through troubles,” he said.

“The fact that they cannot do this show in China says a lot because they’re not allowed to express themselves in a free manner,” he added.

“To support God and be behind it ...  is an important part of this whole show,” he said, “to let people know what is going on and help them—show support for them.”

Mr. Bruce said the performance helped to inspire “keeping the faith, moving on past troubles, looking past it, and realizing that there is something better ahead.”

Reporting by Nancy Ma, Sonia Wu, 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.
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