SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘Five Stars. We'll Be Back Next Year,’ Says Missouri Theatergoer

Mar 13, 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Banker Cale Garverick and his wife Krista, a fashion designer turned homemaker, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts’ opening show at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts after having learned about the company from the advertisements.

“I was truly impressed with the performance. … We were hoping for an encore, we weren’t ready for it to end,” Mr. Garverick said.

Though he is not very familiar with Chinese history, Mr. Garverick said the performance was “informative but also entertaining.”

“It was great to hear about the 5,000 years of tradition and the religion behind the culture, which is lost in modern times.”

As one of the oldest civilizations in the world, China’s 5,000 years of history is filled with breathtaking legends and rich traditions. Yet, within just a few decades of the Chinese communists’ rise to power, this magnificent culture was destroyed.

The spread of atheism quickly eradicated Chinese people’s belief in the divine. The cherished virtues and values learned from the teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism disappeared overnight.

Today, the New York-based Shen Yun is working to revive this lost civilization and bring it back to the world through dance and music, the beauty of pre-communist China.

Reflecting on this spiritual element in the performance Mr. Garverick said he “felt enlightened.”

“I thought there were a lot of parallels to [other spiritual beliefs,] Christianity in particular. It was fascinating,” he stated. “I felt like I was incorrect about my pretenses about Eastern religion. It was much more close to home than I thought it would be.”

Mrs. Garverick, too, thought “the spiritual connection was beautiful.”

“As a Christian, I can relate to that faith and to know that we come from a creator. To see that be an inspiration for such beauty in classical dance, it’s great.”

Mr. Garverick admired the artists’ dedication to reviving traditional culture and felt sad that it was all but eradicated by the Chinese Communist Party.

“I think tradition and culture is everything. Whenever you tamper that down, cultures and civilizations die. You need culture to keep it going,” he explained.

“That’s why people that want power, the first thing they go after is religion and family. That is probably why they’re the two most important things for our livelihoods. It showed through the performers too, just the passion behind it. It was incredible.”

For Mrs. Garverick, the solo performance by the erhu was especially moving. “It was like honey to my ears. It was very savory and sweet at the same time. It was beautiful,” she said.

“You can tell [the artists] are dedicated to their art and their craft. They’ve perfected it. It’s really, really good.”

The erhu is a 4,000-year-old Chinese instrument that mimics the human voice. Though it only has two strings, it is capable of expressing a wide range of emotions, resonating with the profound depths of the human soul.

The couple is already making plans to return for more. “Five stars. We'll be back next year. It changes every year and that is unique,” Mr. Garverick said.

For its 2025 touring season, Shen Yun’s eight equally-sized companies will be performing in over 200 cities across five continents. Met with wide acclaim since its establishment in 2006, the company can be expected to return each year with a brand-new set of choreography and musical compositions.

Reporting by Lily Yu 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.