SYDNEY—Rod Story, a staff trainer and Minister for the Evangelism Explosion Ministry, felt the Shen Yun Performing Arts production was “excellent”.

After watching the show at a packed Sydney Theater, Walsh Bay on Thursday April 17, he was full of praise.

“I thought it was excellent I visited China many times so it’s good for me to see some of the history and dance , it’s excellent and very well done, very active”.

Mr. Story has been to China many times. He engaged with thousands of people during his trips, imparting his faith with the Evangelism Explosion (EE) Ministry. He has held sessions where followers “learn how to share their faith,” according to the EE website.

He especially enjoyed watching the Mongolian Chopsticks performance, where male dancers take the audience on a vibrant journey of the vast Mongolian plains, coupled with the fast-paced and technical dance involving wooden chopstick drumming.

Mr. Story attended the Shen Yun performance with his wife Ronda, an English teacher.

She said the experience was delightful.

“I love the colour and movement,” she said during the intermission.

She especially appreciated the representation of China’s many unique ethnic groups through traditional Chinese dance.

“I love the way different cultures from China are represented, and because I feel I don’t know a lot about Chinese culture and history I’m getting a little interest in those things and that’s really helpful”.

Mrs. Story also was impressed with the use of the unique digital backdrop - a hallmark of the Shen Yun production. The animated screen creates a seamless connection between the stage and the backdrop, allowing performers to instantly transform into dragons, fairies or mythological creatures, features in the many ancient stories told throughout the show.

“I love the representation of the costumes, and the use of video together with the live dancing is really, really beautiful, very effective very clever,” said Mrs. Story.

She said she really liked The Steadfast Lotus dance, which dramatically tells the story of a mother and daughter in modern China, torn apart by the persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline.

“It had the courage of the child and it had that mix of the video and the dance it was just beautifully done ... the Lotus movements were beautiful. I loved the gracefulness of it all, it was beautiful,” she said.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice which has been under harsh state-run persecution in China since 1999.

Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance performing arts company, which is dedicated to reviving the 5000-year old culture of China. Its productions have been praised around the world for technical excellence as well as spiritual depth. Many of the numbers explore the traditional values and core principles that have existed in China for centuries.

Reporting by NTD Television and Sonya Bryskine

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts. 

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.