SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Shows Positive Message, Says Insurance President

Mar 29, 2025

3/29/2025Updated: 3/29/2025

NEW YORK CITY—Betty Shepherd, president of an insurance group division, found a “totally different” experience in Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“The dancing is beautiful. The costumes are gorgeous. Very athletic. Beautiful,” said Ms. Shepherd at Lincoln Center on March 29. She had not known what to expect from the New York-based group’s promise to deliver “China before communism,” and said she saw something beautiful and different from the China most people know today.

“It’s just sad that, you know, it doesn’t exist the way it used to,” she added. “The story tells something that’s not familiar to everybody. So it’s a great thing to hear.”

Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through music and dance.

Ms. Shepherd felt the performance conveyed something positive, adding that she would take home a good message.

“Be positive and have faith in the things that will turn around,” she said. “You just have to have faith that everything will work out.”

Richard Monzone enjoyed Shen Yun at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on March 29, 2025. (Frank Liang/The Epoch Times) — Richard Monzone enjoyed Shen Yun at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on March 29, 2025. Frank Liang/The Epoch Times

Also discovering “China before communism” for the first time was Richard Monzone, a business developer, who attended the March 29 matinee with his sister and daughter.

“Not enough people know about it. And I think that if more people knew about it, they'd have a different impression and a different feeling about communist China,” Mr. Monzone said.

For thousands of years, China was a spiritual civilization, placing at the center of its beliefs harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind. Since seizing power in 1949, the communist regime has sought to destroy traditional Chinese culture through periodic violent campaigns like the Cultural Revolution. This is but one reason that Shen Yun is banned in China today.

“I think that that message needs to be gotten out more,” Mr. Monzone added. “Communism has oppressed a lot of free thought and free expression. And hopefully people understand that when they see this.”

Mr. Monzone saw in Shen Yun the opposite of the oppressive communist culture.

“The colors were incredible, the coordination, the physical condition of all the players was really impressive,” Mr. Monzone said. He marveled at the dancers’ seemingly airborne feats, as well as their split-second coordination with a digital backdrop that expanded the stage. “I was impressed by the way that they took reality and went into the screen digitally. The backdrop was seamless. The backdrop was impressive.”

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.