SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Delights Audience in Miami

Jan 13, 2025

MIAMI—Shen Yun Performing Arts completed a successful run at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 10 through Jan. 12 to an enthusiastic and impressed audience at every performance.

“The dancing was beautiful, the music was amazing, and the history behind the story is also very significant, especially in today’s times. What wins all the time? Love,” said real estate developer Peter Doremus.

Mariya Margiyeva, an award-winning acrobat and aerialist, said, “It’s a high level of everything: musicality, technique, artistic expression.”

Beautiful Music

Thornell Jones, Jr. watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida on Jan. 12, 2025. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times) — Thornell Jones, Jr. watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida on Jan. 12, 2025. Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times

The music of Shen Yun’s live orchestra generated much praise. Thornell Jones, Jr, an entertainment marketing professional, said, “The wonderful mix of Western instruments and Eastern instruments, traditional Chinese instruments, was definitely ear candy.”

Singer, composer, and TV presenter Minerva Borjas said, “The music is very powerful [and connects to an] indescribable, almost magical place.”

“All the images ... of divinity in the company of music, [it] makes you feel embraced by that divinity,” she added.

Joaquin Rivas and Linsley Hannah enjoyed Shen Yun at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Jan. 11, 2025. (Kailiang Jia/The Epoch Times) — Joaquin Rivas and Linsley Hannah enjoyed Shen Yun at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on Jan. 11, 2025. Kailiang Jia/The Epoch Times

The Shen Yun program includes a solo performed by an erhu virtuoso, expertly captivating audience members with an instrument that has only two strings but a range that spans all of human emotion.

“The music generated by that instrument goes to your soul,” said physician Joaquin Rivas. “It gives you peace. It touches your brain in a different dimension. It puts you in a different place where you are just by listening to it. I wish I had one in my house and learned how to do it.”

Freedom From Persecution

Many in the audience were aware of Shen Yun’s deeper message. Shen Yun’s story-based dance brings attention to the ongoing persecution of people of faith by the communist regime in present-day China.

Wayne and Marlena Talamas enjoyed Shen Yun at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on the afternoon of Jan. 11, 2025. (Frank Liang/The Epoch Times) — Wayne and Marlena Talamas enjoyed Shen Yun at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami on the afternoon of Jan. 11, 2025. Frank Liang/The Epoch Times

This made an impression on Wayne Talamas, president of a health company. “We can learn from the Chinese how to be strong, how not to give up, because the persecution has been more extreme in China than anywhere,” he said.

Emmy-award-winning singer-songwriter Marger Sealey felt this deeply.

“As a Venezuelan, I see a reflection of what we’re living through, which is perfectly portrayed in this work. Many people can come and see Shen Yun and by understanding what’s happening in China, see what’s happening in my country and other parts of Latin America,” she said.

M.J. Bixby, an investor and a business owner, resonated with Shen Yun’s message of sharing the truth.

“I like the fact that there are things that pertain to truthfulness, part of one of the core values that really resonates with us in the Western Hemisphere,” he said. “And we like that truthfulness is an antidote against communism. So that’s a core value that we share in common.”

Spiritual Connections

Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to share the traditional culture of ancient China and present China before communism.

“We need to get some of that tradition here because we’re losing all our traditions in the West because of modernism,” Marlena Talamas said. “The modern society is killing all that is good in all the cultures of the world. So I think that it’s so important that the Chinese culture, that is so ancient, can have more impact on the Western society. I think it was a beautiful message.”

Reflecting on the artists’ mission to show people’s belief in the divine and revive traditional values, Phillipe Obregon, a dancer and casting director, said, “I’m also a spiritual person, so it was very impressive to see the message. It was beautiful. You [need to] be connected to spiritual things to have happiness in your life—the meditation—that was very important also. It was connecting with me in the show.”

Peter Doremus and Sophia Bianchi enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 10, 2025. (Teng Dongyu/The Epoch Times) — Peter Doremus and Sophia Bianchi enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 10, 2025. Teng Dongyu/The Epoch Times

Theater director Sophia Bianchi said Shen Yun transported her to another realm. Shen Yun’s scenography gave her “a sensation that we are in heaven—very powerful and full of colors.”

Charles Taylor, a pastor and entrepreneur, was moved by Shen Yun’s message of universal spirituality.

“The message of spirituality, the message of creation, the message of oneness, the message of unity, the message of love flowed through every song and every dance and every story, and I loved it,” he said.

“The spiritual message is so deep and beautiful that it’s like, it’s way more than just dancing and singing and performing. It’s not just the performance,” he said.

There are still opportunities to see Shen Yun Performing Arts in the Sunshine State. Florida is hosting Shen Yun in Lakeland, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orange Park, and Venice throughout January.

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