SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Touches the Lives of Spokane Audience

Mar 10, 2025

SPOKANE, Wash.—People in the arts know that a minute on stage requires 10 years of hard work off stage. Glenn Anderson, a retired federal government civil servant, was able to see that the beauty of Shen Yun Performing Arts had years of sweat and discipline behind it.

“When you touch our lives—it’s because of the effort they put into it and the fact that they’ve devoted themselves to all that they do every single day. I know that they perform today, but they have to practice every day to keep that strength, their abilities, their talent,” Mr. Anderson said.

Shen Yun is based in New York, and it currently has eight companies touring the world simultaneously.

“The eight companies that represent Shen Yun—I’m so grateful that they actually can find people that are willing to devote their lives to this,” Mr. Anderson stated.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese culture, China before communism.

“A lot of people don’t understand because, on television, all you see is communist China, the soldiers marching in the streets. This is completely different. This is showing what it was like before all that happened. I think it’s important for people to know there was a time when China had a glorious existence,” Mr. Anderson said.

Both Mr. Anderson and Julia believe that it’s important for more people to see Shen Yun to gain an understanding of what China was like before the Chinese Communist Party took power.

“If [Shen Yun] was shown in China, I think a lot of people’s hearts would change, but because it’s prohibited, they’re missing out. They really are,” Mr. Anderson said.

Shen Yun’s live orchestra is a unique combination of traditional Chinese instruments and a classic Western ensemble.

“The music is fantastic—no flaws—perfect as far as what they’re trying to achieve in terms of the emotional quality of the storyline,” Mr. Anderson said.

Julia was pleased to share her admiration for Shen Yun’s conductor. The conductor’s role is to lead the orchestra while following the pace of the dancers, making the entire performance as smooth as possible.

“The orchestra is fabulous. The conductor, he’s so young and he is amazing. He’s amazing because he is leading all the musicians,” she said.

Shen Yun’s singers are trained in bel canto technique and the digital backdrop provides a translation of the Chinese text being sung.

“The soprano and the baritone—oh my gosh! At the end, when they hit their powerful notes—I mean, you’re just shocked how good it is,” Mr. Anderson said.

Mr. Anderson was struck by the sung text.

“The message is that human beings started divine and that going back to their creator, you can return to that. You hear the emotion and the power of their voices—it just instills a lot of feelings of strength inside and gratitude-because these are very talented people,” he shared.

Since true Chinese culture is pretty foreign to the world, the two Masters of Ceremony provide a brief introduction to each piece before it begins.

“The two announcers are funny—they’re wonderful people. We’re going to be coming back again and again,” Mr. Anderson said.

Reporting by Frank Zhang and Maria Han.

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