COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Caitlin Haddan, a figure skater, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts on Mar. 30.
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception, Shen Yun has expanded from one to eight equally sized companies that tour around the world simultaneously, reviving traditional Chinese culture and showcasing the beauty of “China before communism.”
In addition to dance vignettes, Shen Yun’s program also includes story-based dances that are adaptations of stories from history and popular literary works.“I like the stories, [they] brought tears to my eyes,” Ms. Haddan said. “I think because it felt really real, and the history was so rich in the culture of people and love. You could just feel it through the performance.”
“I feel the love through the performance—love of the culture, love of the history. It was amazing. You could tell when someone really just loves their craft, they just throw their whole into it. I was just so blown away by that.”
As an athlete herself, Ms. Haddan was able to appreciate the performers’ skills
“I just wish I could be that flexible,” she said. “The athletic abilities are so, so amazing. You could tell they just work day and night on something like that to be at that skill level. But also, on the more artistic side and the beauty of it, they aren’t just doing it for sport. They’re showing something more. They’re showing their heart, their soul out there. So I really love that.”
“Embrace your true self and kindness in the world. There’s a lot of kindness in that,” she said. “Trust yourself and trust that there’s love in this universe, that you can, whatever you believe ... trust that, and you have a lot more strength than you think that you have. I think that it gives you that feeling of resilience.”
“Keep up the good work, it’s amazing. ... It’s very inspiring. I’m kind of a loss for words right now, but I do love it and I admire all of the hard work and dedication.
“But more than that, they were able to show things that were more on the vulnerable side ... [like] people hurting and falling on hard times, but yet still [being] able to rise up again. I love that.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
