SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Elevated Your Soul, Elevated Your Consciousness’ Says Painter

Jan 09, 2023

AUSTIN, Texas—“We sat there together throughout the whole thing, going ’this is soul elevating,'” said artist Andrea Keen.

Andrea Keen, painter, and Lyanne Greystoke, resiliency coach, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts together at The Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas on Jan. 8.

“The epitome of beauty in life,” said Ms. Greystone.

“It was spectacular, it was so well done, so well put together,” she added, “I loved how they managed to use the costumes as part of the dance … that was fabulous!”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with Chinese folk and ethnic dance, the company presents story-based dances that depict the history and traditional culture of China from ancient times to the modern day.

Shen Yun also features a live orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra, as well as solo vocal and instrumental music performances.

“The music was absolutely inspirational,” said Ms. Keen, “the combination with the music, the color, the coordination, the costuming and the set design … it was perfection, absolute perfection!”

China was once known as “The Land of the Divine” and Shen Yun presents this culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. As such, the performance often includes spiritually uplifting messages, according to the company’s website.

“Just elevated your soul, elevated your consciousness to another layer, another dimension beyond what you normally see, on a day to day basis,” said Ms. Keen, “very inspiring, we were thoroughly inspired.”

‘Out of This World’

Larry and Terry Mathis at The Long Center for the Performing Arts at in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. (Sonia Wu/Epoch Times) — Larry and Terry Mathis at The Long Center for the Performing Arts at in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2023. Sonia Wu/Epoch Times

Larry Mathis, retired theatre director, and wife, Terry Mathis, speech-language pathologist, also attended Shen Yun for the first time at The Long Center for the Performing Arts at in Austin on Jan. 8.

“The dancing and choreography is just out of this world,” said Mr. Mathis.

“I am fascinated by not only the beauty of the show but particularly interested in the technical aspect of the show,” he added, “the patent on the screen technology is just stunning, it’s just a visual delight to watch!”

Shen Yun utilizes a cutting-edge patented digital backdrop that allows audiences to see beyond the stage into the ancient wonders of China, and even scenes in the heavens. It allows the performers to remarkably “travel” back and forth between the stage and the background projection.

“The way they just incorporate the dancing choreography with the jumping into the screen is just mesmerizing … so well done that it really grabs you and really brings you into the whole theme.”

Having researched and directed a play on the Cambodia killing fields, sites where more than 1 million people were killed from the communist Khmer Rouge regime’s genocide, Mr. Mathis was particularly moved by the dances that depict modern China, under communist rule.

Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, a meditation and spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

“That one was just so moving and it’s such a tragedy that the people of China aren’t allowed to see [Shen Yun].”

Mrs. Mathis said, “It’s so sad that the people of China do not get to experience their culture and their spiritual heritage.”

Since 2006, Shen Yun has performed at top theatres worldwide and has grown from one to eight equally large companies. Chinese traditional culture has been on the brink of extinction since the Chinese communist regime seized power in 1949. Shen Yun says its performance demonstrates “China before communism.”

Reporting by Sally Sun, Sonia Wu, and Jennifer Schneider.

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