SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Engineers Say Persecution in China Must Be Exposed

Mar 30, 2025

3/30/2025Updated: 3/31/2025

WORCESTER, Mass.—Shen Yun Performing Arts intrigued the audience at the Hanover Theatre on March 30, especially Jeff and Heather Curtis.

Mr. Curtis, formerly an electrical engineer, found Shen Yun interesting and “very enjoyable.”

“When I worked at iRobot, I traveled to China a bunch for work, but it’s like, I can’t see this there because you can’t do it there.”

Mrs. Curtis, a former software engineer, said, “We love it. It’s amazing. The athleticism of the dancers is just remarkable, and the stories are very interesting.”

“It’s different and that’s part of what’s fun about it. The costumes are amazing. And like Heather said, the storytelling is fun,” Mr. Curtis added.

Shen Yun’s aim is to revive “China before communism,” and showcase its 5,000 years of rich history and culture. “I think it’s excellent,” Mr. Curtis said of Shen Yun’s mission.

“Yes, this is great,” Mr. Curtis said. “At iRobot, we had a really active Chinese community. They were really active. They had Asian culture, and they brought it to all of us. But this would be something that they would really [enjoy].”

Because the communist regime now rules China, Shen Yun is banned from performing in China.

Mrs. Curtis had a personal experience with China’s troubles. “I have a friend that I worked with a long time ago, and her husband lived through the Cultural Revolution. It was hard, very hard,” she said.

One of the dances tells of Falun Gong meditators in modern China who are persecuted for their spiritual beliefs and have their organs stolen for profit. Mrs. Curtis found that very tragic.

“It was very heartbreaking and it’s hard to see, but you know what’s going on. ... It’s very helpful for everybody [to see it],” she said.

Mrs. Curtis was also impressed with Shen Yun’s state-of-the-art animated backdrop technology, as performers jump in and out and seem to fly across the screen. “The amazing thing was how they seemed to be jumping into the screen. That’s very interesting to watch.”

“I was a software engineer, so that’s why some of this is like, ‘Wow, how did they do that?’” she said.

Mr. Curtis said it was a “clever way to do things they couldn’t otherwise do.”

Shen Yun features vocalists who use the bel canto technique. The couple appreciated the tenor who sang in Mandarin with the lyrics displayed on the backscreen.

“He was amazing,” Mrs. Curtis said.

They were happy to encourage Shen Yun’s performers to continue their worthy mission. “This is amazing. Thank you very much for doing it,” Mr. Curtis said.

Mrs. Curtis was happy that Shen Yun came to her town. “Thank you for bringing it to the United States. Thank you for presenting it where we could see it locally.”

Reporting by Mary Man and Yvonne Marcotte.

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