ST. LOUIS, Mo.—Seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts, Duray Yasin felt inspired by the art, beauty, and mastery of the performance.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. Top tier talent, top tier execution, it was beautiful honestly,” said Ms. Yasin, a project manager, who felt the experience was “mind and soul elevating.”
“It moved me,” she said. “I loved how there were short stories, and each story had their own lessons. That was beautiful too.”

One of the lessons that stuck with Ms. Yasin was, “You should stand firm in your beliefs.”
“No matter what the worldly things around you are happening, if you believe in your faith, in yourself, then you should stand strong in that for sure,” she said. “Stay true to who you are. And also, kindness as well. Kindness seemed to be a very reoccurring strength.”
There were some deep themes too, she added. One of the stories showed that “if you focus and look inward, you find the things that you need most to get to where you’re supposed to be.”
“All the truly fulfilling aspects of life come from inside of you already, not from outwardly,” she said in one story exemplified. “So just having tunnel vision and focusing on yourself and the things that are true to you, reflecting inwards, is how you reach your higher self. I think that was beautiful to see. That depicted it as well. So, focusing inwards and focusing on your connection with God.”
“It makes you contemplate so many things in your personal life. It makes you appreciate the dedication that the artists have to spreading this message because it can’t be easy,” she said.