SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Beautiful and Inspiring, Tells Powerful Story, Says Film Producer

Feb 01, 2025

SAN ANTONIO—Keith Wahrer saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 31 and felt inspired not only by the art but also to tell the artists’ story.

“I think the production is beautiful and inspiring, and just beauty, in general, is inspiring, and it makes you want to participate in it, but more importantly for me—you know, it’s stressing the importance of telling these stories, and I want to help tell these stories,” he said at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts. “I want to tell them. I want to learn about them and share what I learned with people.”

Formed in 2006 in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Its mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, and Mr. Wahrer felt the artists’ goal to show audiences China before communism was an important one.

“I think the music is lovely. The visuals are incredible, the dancing, the storytelling. I love the way that the motion graphics work with the live performance, and I think it’s very innovative. I feel that it’s important to understand China pre-communism. I think it’s important to know about,” he said.

“Because it’s an ancient culture, and a lot of wisdom, a lot of knowledge is there, and I think it exists in Chinese people today and people in general,” he added. “I think the message is universal, ultimately.”

Mr. Wahrer said the story was also one about “the bravery of the Falun Gong [practitioners].”

“[It] is a powerful story, and people need to know about it, I think,” he said.

In its program and website, Shen Yun explains that its artists practice Falun Gong, a peaceful spiritual practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance, which practitioners try to live by in their daily lives. It gained immense popularity after being introduced to the public in the 1990s, but the Chinese communist regime banned it outright in 1999, launching a violent persecution overnight.

Since then, countless Falun Gong practitioners have been subjected to persecution, including arbitrary detention in labor camps, torture, and forced organ harvesting. Whistleblowers have recently stepped forward to reveal that top Chinese Communist Party leaders have intensified efforts to extend this persecution overseas in recent years, including targeting Shen Yun.

Mr. Wahrer noted that the performance was one filled with universal stories and art.

“Each piece has a bit of its own theme, but classical stories that I think have parallels across the world,” he said. That included stories about good versus evil, but also “stories of love and devotion and these other things I think are all present.”

He said the classical music performed by Shen Yun’s orchestra also had a unique touch, blending East and West.

“It sounds amazing in this room. They sound so perfect, and the music that they’re playing is lovely. I love the blend of classical music and Chinese folk music and other Chinese music that I hear,” he said. “It’s a beautiful blend and it comes across, the orchestral sound is amazing.”

Reporting by Sally Sun 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.