SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun an Important Reminder of Freedom in America, Says Financial Planner

Dec 28, 2024

HOUSTON—The Hagens saw Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time on Dec. 28, and were struck by the artists’ passion.

“The dancers obviously have spent many years perfecting their craft. And watching them execute that with passion is very, very entertaining,” said Brian Hagen, a financial planner, at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston.

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, having secured that position in the dance world shortly after its inception in 2006.

The founders of Shen Yun had fled religious persecution in China, and sought to utilize the arts to bring to people around the world 5,000 years of Chinese civilization—a China before communism.

Amber Hagen said the beauty of the dances showed how hard the artists had worked.

“The female dancers are so elegant and graceful. They’re just beautiful. And the men are strong and masculine, and it’s wonderful,” she said.

“Just all of the hard work, the hours that must have gone into all of the production, the costumes, the choreography, the practice,” she said, “and they do it with such passion.”

Mr. Hagen said the family had come to learn “more about the culture, the ancient culture, the true culture of China.”

“I think that this show is very important, especially in America,” he said. Not many Americans know of China’s lost traditional culture, and the truth is important, he said.

Since the Chinese communist regime took power in 1949, it has launched multiple violent revolutions to try to destroy China’s traditional culture, a culture the Chinese once believed divinely inspired. As a result, Shen Yun has been blacklisted in China.

“I’m grateful for the courage that these performers and this entire show have to express their concern and inform the public about the persecution that they’re up against,“ Mr. Hagen said. ”It takes great courage to do that. Wonderful.”

Reporting by Frank Liang 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.