LOS ANGELES—Shen Yun Performing Arts entranced the audience at the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion during its extended run in January.
Members of the audience, among them costume designer Rosi Gabl, praised Shen Yun for its uplifting message of freedom of belief.
“I’m absolutely happy,” she said. Between that freedom, and “then just the beauty of all of it—the colors, the little stories, the performers are amazing and the costumes are just a must-see—it’s very touching, and very spiritual, and beautiful,” Ms. Gabl said.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to show the world China before communism.
The LA audience felt that She Yun had an important message for the modern world.
“I think that’s very important today. I think that’s a very important message for everybody today, just to keep tradition and value and honor and integrity intact,” said Kordelia Matthews, an actress and model.
“The Chinese culture is special. It’s very spiritual, and it connects heaven and earth, and the divine and human,” she said.
Luca Matthews, a musician and composer for film and television, said, “The message is about brotherhood, and connecting with divinity, and all of that.
“You can see how much that things have got lost, and now we’re replacing that with new values. I do appreciate going back to our origins and to our connections to our creators and the nature and the world around us,” he said.
“I think the last pieces about meditation and then communism coming in and not allowing those beautiful spiritual practices were really compelling and very heartbreaking to watch. So much of it is just really so beautiful,” said psychotherapist Jennifer Ginsberg.
The pure and beautiful scenes of the Creator coming to earth to help humanity struck a chord with Stuart Cornutt, a high school volleyball coach and small business owner.
“I’m someone who believes in the Creator as well, and so I believe that there is a heaven and that we have kind of a similar story in Christianity, of people coming down, descending onto Earth, and that they’re spiritual beings, and that we will one day go to heaven,” he said.
The quality of the technical production impressed Gonzalo Martinez, a family physician.
“Even the way they kind of adapted the screen to real life, it was unusual,” he said. “It’s something I’ve never seen before.”
Shen Yun’s mission to revive Chinese traditional culture impressed senior engineer Felix Leyva.
“This kind of brings it all back. It’s trying to bring everybody back. And we’re very faithful, so we love that that’s coming,” he said.
“I really appreciate their faithfulness to their trade and to their dance and to their expression of their culture to expose that to other people so we could get a good feel for the beauty of their culture,” said Lesa Hicks, who traveled 65 miles to see Shen Yun with her husband on their anniversary.
Lynda McGee, a college counselor at Downtown Magnets High School, said, “We see so many ugly things surround us. To come to this and not have to think about that for a while, it’s a very beautiful thing.”
Shen Yun’s artistry impressed Grammy award-winning music producer, Thom Russo, especially the music production.
“Absolutely fantastic. Yes, on all levels, it was incredible,” he said. “The orchestra was pristine. All the compositions, everything. It was amazing. Absolutely amazing.
“Amazing. It was so much content in two hours that I’m overwhelmed with the information—and all in a wonderful way,” he said.
“I felt like I really, I really imbibed something that was that was unusually wonderful, worth every minute. And I just feel enriched,” said Denise Domergue, former director of the American Institute for Conservation and now founder of a nonprofit arts organization.
“I’m so grateful that I came,” she said.
There are still opportunities to see Shen Yun in California, including Sacramento, Hollywood, San Diego, and other venues in the state.
