Nick Isham attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the ICC in Birmingham, UK, on Jan. 4, 2025. NTD
BIRMINGHAM, UK—Nick Isham had heard about Shen Yun Performing Arts from others and also seen short clips online about the performance, but he says nothing could have prepared him for what he witnessed live at the ICC on Jan. 4.
“It’s quite overwhelming. The costumes, the music, the dance, the choreography—all kind of come together just so beautifully as a representation of the Chinese culture,” said Mr. Isham, head of end-user services at National Gas.
Mr. Isham said, watching Shen Yun, “You lose yourself in the show,” being carried away by the dances, costumes, as well as the music performed by Shen Yun’s unique orchestra, which combines traditional Chinese and classical Western instruments.
“You find it very easy to lose yourself into the performance, into the story because of how dramatic and big the whole portrayal is,” Mr. Isham said.
“It encompasses you, and almost the world falls away as … your focus just draws into … fantastic performances, dances, songs, the music. All of it is just captivating.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun has a mission to revive China’s traditional culture, traveling the globe to present classical Chinese dance and music.
Shen Yun is “a revival of the beauty and goodness of China before communism,” the company says on its website.
Mr. Isham said it’s wonderful to be able to see Shen Yun—which can’t be seen in China—revive China’s lost culture.
“Being able to … see something that is either dying or something that’s kind of gone quiet, being reborn again—it’s a wonderful thing,” he said.
‘It Opened Up a Whole New World’
Theo and Thomas Platt attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the ICC in Birmingham, UK, on Jan. 4, 2025. Chloe Hsiao/The Epoch Times
Theo Platt, vice president of data engineering and software at a major company active in life sciences, said Shen Yun is a very unique experience.
“It opened up a whole new world I’d never experienced before, a new sort of culture I haven’t experienced or seen, new imagery I’d never experienced before,” he said.
Mr. Platt said through Shen Yun, he saw China from the ancient times all the way to the present.
“The whole theme of it, I think, was fascinating,” he said.
Mr. Platt added that he will be recommending Shen Yun to his friends and colleagues so they can “experience something they’ve never seen before.”
