SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Brings Classical Chinese Civilization to West Palm Beach

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Shen Yun Brings Classical Chinese Civilization to West Palm Beach
Marjorie Faver, a former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, was thrilled by Shen Yun’s performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on April 16, 2014. She said she would like to tell the artists, “You are the greatest—talented, beautiful dancers.” Courtesy of NTD Television

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Shen Yun Performing Arts is traveling to West Palm Beach for a third consecutive year to present theatergoers with an array of heavenly scenes, ancient legends, and contemporary tales—all through the 5,000-year-old traditions of classical Chinese dance and music.

This year’s performances are scheduled for the evenings of April 21 and 22 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

Last year, in the same theater, Shen Yun met with enthusiastic reviews from dancers, professors, and authors, among other theatergoers.

‘Absolutely Thrilled’

Speaking of Shen Yun’s 2014 West Palm Beach performance, Marjorie Faver, a former dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, said, “I’m absolutely thrilled.”

She said of the dancers: “Their feet were beautiful, … their arabesques, their attitudes, everything that they did. They walked like they were gliding on water. Their precision—it’s just amazing, absolutely amazing.”

Chinese dance is at the heart of what Shen Yun does. Known for its incredible flips and spins, and its gentle elegance, it is one of the most rigorous and expressive art forms in the world,” the company website states.

The greatest, talented, beautiful dancers.
Marjorie Faver, a professional former dancer
Ms. Faver said she would like to tell the dancers, “You are the greatest—talented, beautiful dancers.”

‘Another World’

Jean François, visiting from Paris, France, where he is a professor of medicine, saw Shen Yun at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, on April 15, 2014. He said the performance puts you in another world—a classical civilization. (Kerry Huang/Epoch Times)
Jean François, visiting from Paris, France, where he is a professor of medicine, saw Shen Yun at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, on April 15, 2014. He said the performance puts you in another world—a classical civilization. Kerry Huang/Epoch Times

Jean François, a professor of medicine in Paris, France, enjoyed the cosmic elements of Shen Yun while attending at the Kravis Center in April 2014.

“I think we belong to the cosmos,” the professor said. “You believe in God or you don’t believe in God, but there is cosmos. There is a sun, the moon, the stars, and all that is part of us, and when you see [Shen Yun], you feel the cosmos around you—and voilà!”

Onstage, Shen Yun portrays elements of traditional Chinese culture and its close link to the divine, as the website states: “Principles such as benevolence and justice, propriety and wisdom, respect for the heavens, and divine retribution, all come to life, washing over the audience.”

Mr. François said, “You know this [Shen Yun] is another civilization. Here inside [the theater] you see a classical civilization.”

You are in another world.
Jean François, professor of medicine
“You are in another world.”

‘Feel Blessed’

Gale Nemec (L) and her sister Joy Werner attended Shen Yun's April 16, 2014, performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Nemec said she felt blessed to have had the opportunity to see Shen Yun. (Edie Bassen/Epoch Times)
Gale Nemec (L) and her sister Joy Werner attended Shen Yun's April 16, 2014, performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Ms. Nemec said she felt blessed to have had the opportunity to see Shen Yun. Edie Bassen/Epoch Times

Author Gale Nemec, who writes children’s books and spiritual books, said of the 2014 West Palm Beach performance: “It made me cry. It was so beautiful, and it was so well-done.”

Ms. Nemec was taken by Shen Yun’s state-of-the-art graphics technology and digital-backdrops, which act as magical windows into other realms.

“[It] was just beautiful with the actors, the dancers going offstage, and then all of a sudden, they’re flying away, and then coming back. It was gorgeous!”

The digital backdrops are intricate and true to life, and as Ms. Nemec described, they harmonize with other elements of the performance, even the dancers themselves.

I feel blessed … to have seen [Shen Yun].
Gale Nemec, author
Of the overall performance, Ms. Nemec said: “It was beautiful! I feel blessed to … have seen it.”

The two performances at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts will be the last opportunity to see Shen Yun in Florida during its 2015 world tour. The company has already performed in Fort Lauderdale, Sarasota, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Orlando, Fort Myers, St. Petersburg, and Miami, and will return to Florida again for the 2016 season.

Reporting by NTD Television and Epoch Times Staff 

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.

Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006