SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Made a Family Aware of Religious Persecution in China

Dec 27, 2024

ATLANTA—Shen Yun Performing Arts performed its all-new 2025 production on Dec. 27 at the Atlanta Symphony Hall. Tennel Lockett, who owns a legal consulting firm, attended the performance with his wife, Hopi, and her sister, Ivy Stone. Each had dance segments that they liked.

Mr. Lockett said he was amazed by the choreography in general. “From start to finish, the timing and the synchronizing was just incredible. It’s very impressive how they moved as an individual unit. It was just very impressive.”

“I love the scene with the master and the students. It had a really good blend of comedy but also sort of a moral component to it. It was just well acted, well done,” he said.

He also liked the storyline of Pigsy, a character from ‘Journey to the West,’ one of the four classics of Chinese literature. “It was very interesting. A lot of humor in it. And then the special effects and graphics were really well done. The timing was amazing.”

Mrs. Locket loved the dance with the water sleeves. “I didn’t know how much the fabric was going to be a part of this show. I loved that.”

Mrs. Lockett appreciated the flexibility skill of the dancers. “There was one scene, the ladies had on black tops and pink pants. They all synchronized and had their leg up in the air, and they were balanced. And I think that was the one time the whole crowd clapped because we all realized how hard that is, because we’ve all tried to do this. And we can’t. So that was beautiful. They just looked so disciplined and just elegant. It was lovely.”

The male dancers in the Tibetan dance had sleeves. “I like that the men had a part, too, in one of their dances with sleeves. I loved it.”

Presenting a brand-new set of dance pieces, musical compositions, and solo performances each season, the company takes its audience on a journey through time and space to rediscover the beauty and traditional values of pre-communist China. Unfortunately, persecution is still happening in China.

Ms. Stone, director of a community foundation in Kansas, was visiting her sister, and noted the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners. She said those segments were the most memorable. “I don’t really hear about a lot of religious persecution outside of, like, Christians, and I didn’t really think about that. There was one scene—they were being tormented, and that really stood out to me. That’s pretty powerful,” she said.

Mrs. Lockett was also affected by the scene of persecution of people “who couldn’t express their art and their true beliefs and how grateful we should be that we can here.”

Mrs. Lockett liked how the Shen Yun performance ended. “I think, like in all cultures, there’s a desire for everything to be made right. So, I liked the return of the Creator. You kind of get the feeling that everything that was wrong has been made right. So, I like the two parts of that together: the persecution and the redemption of everything.”

Business Owner Noted the Crisp Sound of Shen Yun’s Orchestra

: Cory Rodriguez attended Shen Yun Performing Arts on Dec. 27 at the Atlanta Symphony Hall. (Roland Ree/The Epoch Times)

Cory Rodriquez, business owner of Sigma Marketing, appreciated the dancers, music, and production values throughout the performance.

“[The dancers] are beautiful. I mean, they’re very skilled. They’re right on point, especially when they jump into the screen, right on time.” The patented animated backdrop allows performers to seemingly fly into the air from the stage. “Dancers are, like I said, very skilled. They just like bringing the story to life,” he said.

Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Based in New York, its artists are dedicated to reviving China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.

“The music’s beautiful. We’re right in the front. The orchestra is right there. The orchestra is so crisp, it sounds like you’re listening on the radio.

Mr. Rodriquez recommended people come to see Shen Yun to bring awareness of the persecution of the spiritual practice of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist Party. “Come up to see the performance because there’s a story behind the communism.”

Reporting by Roland Ree and Yvonne Marcotte.

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