SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Professor Intrigued by Shen Yun’s Stories From China’s Rich Culture

Mar 10, 2025

STAMFORD, Conn.—Angela Lopez Velasquez had many ways to describe the performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Palace Theatre on March 9.

Ms. Velasquez, a language education researcher at Southern Connecticut State University, said the performance was “absolutely amazing, astonishing.”

Shen Yun presents stories through dance and music from China’s rich 5,000-year civilization, which fascinated Ms. Velasquez.

“It’s very beautiful. I think I was surprised about the stories. I didn’t expect the stories,” she said.

She was especially fascinated by the stories about modern-day human rights abuses in China, like the persecution of the spiritual meditation practice Falun Gong, which she wasn’t expecting but found valuable learning about. “And the humor also in some of the other stories, that was very refreshing.”

She also found Shen Yun valuable for teaching the younger generation about China’s history.

“Definitely of historical value. All the knowledge that I’ve acquired here about China prior to the communist regime is very enlightening. The beauty of it, the ideology about the divine, I didn’t really know that,” she said.

Most of Shen Yun’s dancers and artists are Falun Gong practitioners, and believe in a Creator and the heavens, and this is shown in the dances on stage.

Ms. Velasquez said she had heard about Falun Gong, which teaches following the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

“Definitely truthfulness is very relevant for today’s society in which we live, where we have so much fullness and truth flowing around. And compassion, absolutely,” she said.

Ms. Velasquez said that forbearance is “very similar to compassion too, and being helpful to people. Just going back to the original thoughts about living in community and being good to one another.”

Reporting by Frank Liang and Yvonne Marcotte.

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