SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘I Enjoyed the Spiritual Message the Most,’ Says Retired Teacher at Shen Yun

Apr 22, 2024

DES MOINES, Iowa—Retired high school teacher Paul Wilkerson and his wife Bonnie, a priest, attended Shen Yun’s first performance at the Des Moines Civic Center on April 21.

Outside the theater at the end of the matinee, Mr. Wilkerson said they “very much enjoyed the performance.”

“We enjoyed the messages that were there. It gave us some understanding of what happened in China then and now,” he remarked.

“I enjoyed the spiritual message the most. Due to the atheism that took over, you don’t think of China as being [spiritual.] Shen Yun changed my opinion of China. I enjoyed it very much.”

The New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in 2006 by elite Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist party.

For 5,000 years, China’s civilization flourished under the shared belief that the divine will bless those who uphold traditional moral values. Tragically, within just a few decades of the communist party’s violent takeover, these beliefs were erased and replaced with atheism.

The mission of Shen Yun artists is to return to the world’s stage—the glory and beauty of China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.

Referring to Shen Yun’s finale piece depicting humanity’s renewed belief in the divine, Mr. Wilkerson said it showed him that “people can still change even under the current form of government.”

“We hosted a Chinese student for a semester, and I wish we would have seen [Shen Yun] before we hosted him. It might have given us a bit more understanding of where he was coming from,” he added.

“I liked the idea that the divine is in each of us. I liked that very much and I believe that. It was a wonderful experience. We’d recommend [the performance] to anybody.”

Mr. Wilkerson was also very impressed by the talent of Shen Yun dancers.

“Everything was so synchronized,” he exclaimed.

“You can see there was passion. They were just dancing to dance. There was passion—it came across. They loved what they were doing, and we all benefitted from it.”

Shen Yun artists are highly trained in classical Chinese dance. Dating back thousands of years, it is one of the most athletic and expressive art forms in the world.

Mr. Wilkerson agreed that the performance is very educational for young people.

“A lot of people don’t feel that art should be in school anymore because it costs too much money. [Shen Yun] would be something special. It would be nice if they would put a performance on for the junior high students.”

For its 2024 touring season, Shen Yun’s eight equally-sized companies will be performing in over 200 cities across five continents. The artists can be expected to return each year with a brand-new set of choreography and musical compositions.

Reporting by Yeawen Hung and Jennifer Tseng.

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