The lovely southern city along the Mississippi is eagerly anticipating Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 18. The world applauds Shen Yun and in past years, Memphis joined in with enthusiasm.
Last year, Dr. Timothy Potter said Shen Yun brought beautiful memories of a visit to the Temple of Heaven in China.
“Everything I’ve seen ... through Shen Yun, to me, is that same message that we’re seeing, maybe from different angles. We’re seeing the same thing: a personal loving God, Creator, who designed this universe, who designed all the beauty, who designed all the art, who put in us and in the coordinator of Shen Yun the ability to make new music and art every year, to redesign this thing every year.”
New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the 5,000 years of “China before communism.”
“And when you take truth away, you really do get ugliness,” Dr. Potter said, pointing to the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of people of faith, as conveyed in one of Shen Yun’s dance pieces.
Navy physician Dr. Corey Gustafson saw Shen Yun in 2024 and said, “I didn’t realize how much culture was going to be involved in the show. There was a philosophy and a [spiritual] component to it. Then, mixing it with the dancing and the art—it captures all your senses.”
“I think that was well presented, and it’s sad and tragic,” retired pilot Danny Chambers said when he attended Shen Yun last year. “I’m very saddened by the oppression of the Chinese people, and we sometimes think of the Chinese as very bad if we don’t understand that it’s a political oppression of their people. I wish we could change that.”
“The show was very inspiring,” Laura Lutrick, a development director for the Parkinson’s Foundation, said. “I thought the message that it delivered was so needed in today’s society—that we all need to love one another and treat each other with kindness. It was a beautiful performance.”
Daryl Murton, who works in law enforcement, said, “I just try to get more people to come and see this (Shen Yun), and I tell people about the things I know that go on in China.”
When he saw Shen Yun in 2023 Mr. Murton resonated with Shen Yun’s message “of the need for a world to have a reintroduction to the divine.”
“The message that this show brings is extremely counter-cultural, in the United States more and more so, and all over the world more and more so—it’s exactly what the world needs,” Mr. Murton said.
This year, as Shen Yun is set to perform in over 200 cities around the world and across five continents, the 2025 touring season is shaping up to be the artists’ busiest yet and a glorious treat for theatergoers.
