SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

IT VP Hopes Shen Yun Can Perform in China One Day

Jan 15, 2025

LAKELAND, Fla.—Jan Barlow, an IT vice president, was blown away by the beauty of Shen Yun Performing Arts, seeing it for the first time, and shocked that such beauty could be blocked from returning to its homeland by just a small group of people in China.

“That’s like crazy to me ... it’s crazy that it’s just a small portion of the country that sets that tone for the whole country,” Ms. Barlow said.

New York-based Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, takes as its mission to show audiences China before communism. As such, the Chinese communist regime in China has all but blacklisted the artists of Shen Yun, some of whom had actually faced religious persecution by the regime before finding freedom overseas.

For 5,000 years, China was known as the land of the divine, and traditional Chinese culture is deeply spiritual.

Ms. Barlow, who saw the performance with designer and investor Dana Cassidy at the Youkey Theater on Jan. 15, thought the journey through five millennia of divinely inspired culture was just one of beauty.

“I wasn’t expecting that part. And it truly was [divinely inspired]. I mean, I almost came to tears a couple of times with just parts of it,” she said.

The performance included story-based dances, musical solos, ethnic and folk dances from China’s many regions and ethnic minorities, and the divinely inspired nature shone through all of it, Ms. Barlow said.

“They’re all so good ... I was just surprised at how spiritual it was,” she said. “It made it way better. Like, I wasn’t expecting that part. And it truly was. I mean, I almost came to tears a couple of times with just parts of it, because it was very emotional.”

Ms. Barlow said that near the end of the performance, a story-based dance showed the Creator returning, and it nearly moved her to tears.

“I really thought I was going to cry,” she said. “I think there was a lot of talent on that stage, and it was very impressive.”

Ms. Cassidy said the experience was also an emotional one for her, especially when she thought about how Shen Yun could not present the culture they had revived in their homeland.

“Oh, my goodness. It’s beautiful,” she said of China before communism.

“The colors are beautiful. The costumes are beautiful. The history and the things they keep, this dancing keeps alive, and how talented the performers are,” she said. “It was beautiful.”

Ms. Cassidy was amazed by the couture costumes and the innovative use of color.

“With all of the movement, there was a lot of ethereal flow that also expressed the emotion,” she said. “The colors were vibrant, beautiful—everything was beautiful, very moving.”

Reporting by Xinxin Teng and Catherine Yang.

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