SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘Very Expressive’ ‘I Enjoyed It a Lot,’ Says Oklahoma Dance Instructor

Feb 23, 2025

OKLAHOMA CITY—Dance instructor Richard Felix, who runs a local studio, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts’ evening show at the OCCC Visual and Performing Arts Center Theater on the evening of Feb. 22.

This marked the company’s second of three consecutive performances in the city, and Mr. Felix loved every moment of it.

“I like the performance. I like the colors and I like the stories that have been told today. They’ve been very nice,” he said. “I like [that] it’s very expressive and how they put together the colors and the themes and the [3D animated] movie background. I’ve enjoyed it a lot.”

Before the communist party’s spread of atheism, Chinese people were very spiritual and had a deep belief in the divine. For thousands of years, their values and day-to-day actions were strictly governed by the teachings of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism.

However, in the decades since the communist regime seized power, Chinese culture was forced to the brink of extinction.

Established in 2006, Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance and music company. These New York-based artists are now seeking to revive China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture and showcase to the world, the beauty of China before communism.

Mr. Felix was deeply moved by the artists’ mission to bring back traditional culture. He especially enjoyed the story-based dance raising awareness for the ongoing human rights issues in present-day China.

The dance depicts the communist regime’s brutal persecution of Falun Dafa—an ancient meditation practice whose followers adhere to the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.

What inspired me was the story “about communism taking over the arts of the past,” he said. “The past is always relevant to the future. How we remember the past is how we move towards the future. We just can’t just discard it. For me, that was like a big piece that resonated with me.”

As a Christian, Mr. Felix also appreciated how spiritual the whole performance was.

“I believe in the heavens and I believe in inspiration from the heavens,” he explained. “Every culture has their idea of who the divine is. Even though we have differences, there’s [still] life after death.”

For Mr. Felix, the message he will be taking away from the Shen Yun is that we all need to slow down and rediscover our connection with the divine.

“We just get in the world and want to make money. Do this and do that, and forget about the spiritual side of life. But I think that [spirituality] is important,” he said.

Reporting by Sally Sun 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.