SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘More Than Just a Dance’: Investor Impressed With Shen Yun’s Spirit of Freedom

Apr 27, 2025

4/27/2025Updated: 4/27/2025

ROSEMONT, Ill.—John Comerford found the story behind Shen Yun Performing Arts as interesting as the one that unfolded before him on stage.

“The performers are very hardworking, very athletic. And the narrative that’s behind the whole show so far has been very interesting to try to follow along with. So it’s more than just a dance,” he said at the Rosemont Theatre on April 27.

“I think the thing that strikes me the most is the story of how this is so rooted in Chinese culture. Yet it’s not happening in China. It’s unfolding here in America.

“And I think in some ways, in the most complimentary fashion, that makes this performance incredibly American in many ways. Because [Shen Yun is] here doing it, yet it’s rooted in Chinese culture. And I think that’s really neat.”

Founded in New York in 2006, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, or “China before communism.”

Mr. Comerford said Shen Yun’s spirit of freedom was inspiring to him.

“The concept to be here and to show everybody this, who wouldn’t see it anyway, and where it can’t be done in China, I think that’s pretty remarkable,” he said.

“That has actually kind of touched me. But the performances are amazing, and athletic, and high energy. The costumes are amazing and colorful. And so far, halfway through the show, it’s just been a neat experience.”

Mr. Comerford said the traditional values that came through the show were also what the performers had put in.

“The values that come to me from it, on a performance level, would be the dedication and the hard work it takes for these dancers to do this. I can only imagine the hours that they put in,” he said.

“There’s certain movements, there’s certain depictions, and all that is not rooted in American Hollywood. That’s rooted in Chinese storytelling. And I think that’s been pretty impressive, too. Because that’s dedication to what it is they’re doing.”

Another moment that moved Mr. Comerford came at the beginning of the performance, he said. Traditional Chinese culture is a divinely inspired culture, and those depictions of heavenly scenes intrigued him.

“With the depiction of what I kind of perceived to be a sort of heavenly story, and then the whole coming down to earth, but then sort of a combination of being in heaven and earth, kind of, the interaction that can be there. I kind of like that the most, although I’m probably still chewing that up in my brain as to what it means. So I enjoyed that part,” he said.

Reporting by Yeawen Hung 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.