SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Takes You Out of the Ordinary World,’ Says Fairfax Theatergoer

Jan 21, 2024

FAIRFAX, Va.—Ken Ferris, a chief engineer, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the George Mason University Center for the Arts on Jan. 20.

“I think it’s stunning,” Mr. Ferris said. “The background is amazing, the 3D background. The dancing is fabulous. The choreography between the music and the actions of the dancers is precise—it’s just spot on.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Its mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and show audiences around the world the beauty of China before communism.

Mr. Ferris said he had never been introduced to classical Chinese dance before and that he found it very interesting. He said his favorite piece was the ladies’ water sleeves dance, “Sleeves of Grace.”

“‘Sleeves of Grace’ was something just stunning and beautiful,” he said. “That piece struck me as something very important because it was extremely feminine in its approach to dance, and the movements, and the expression of the flowing sleeves. Just something completely different that I’ve never seen before. Very nice.”

According to Shen Yun’s official website, the ancient Chinese believe that their culture was divinely inspired. This ancient belief is incorporated into Shen Yun’s performance and story-telling, and Mr. Ferris said that he saw similarities with the roots of Western culture.

“I find that the divine inspiration portion of this show is interesting because it has a lot of similarities to some of the inspiration that comes from European plays, other far eastern plays, even some of the plays and cultural aspects that you'll see in Latin America. So there’s cultural similarities in a lot of ways in the expression of divine inspiration behind these dances.”

Mr. Ferris said that he felt inspired by Shen Yun.

“I think that’s something that … transcends the boundaries of culture,” he said. “If you can understand the context of what they’re doing, how they’re dancing, the expression of their movement, it becomes divine. And you can see the divine inspiration behind this.”

Shen Yun’s name means “the beauty of divine beings dancing.” Mr. Ferris said that the performance has the ability to transport the audience into another world and culture.

“It’s something that takes you out of the ordinary world and puts you into something a little bit special,” he said. “So for a short period of time, you can step away from your ordinary life and into something a little bit special, into another culture and another expression of that culture that’s actually very important.”

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Wandi Zhu.

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