SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Transcends Language’ in Edmonton on Easter Weekend, Say Theatergoers

Apr 19, 2025

4/19/2025Updated: 4/19/2025

EDMONTON, Alberta—Shen Yun Performing Arts, a stage performance that’s toured the globe showcasing kaleidoscopic colors and classical Chinese dance has arrived at Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium for this Easter weekend.

The show conveyed beauty and spirituality. The crowd was receptive to both.

Preceded by months of billboard advertising featuring leaping ladies in flowing Tang Dynasty gowns, Shen Yun Performing Arts displayed to Edmontonians what it proclaims itself to be: “China before Communism.” On its website, the New York-based dance company states that its mission is to revive 5,000 years of culture “that was almost lost” during the communist era in the nation’s history and then share that culture with the world.

Photographer Andrew Johansson, who saw the April 19 matinee, told The Epoch Times how Shen Yun has managed to express its message with few to no words.

“They’re able to convey a story or a feeling or a belief without any words which transcends language and culture so it’s a great way to be able to communicate to different cultures what it might have been like growing up over the decades in the country which has changed so much,” he said.

The performance, which diverged sharply from the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party (CCP) both culturally and spiritually, not only displayed stunning costumes and energetic movements. It also depicted the values of ancient times as well as scenes of religious persecution continuing in the mainland today.

After Mr. Johansson saw the performance, he said that Shen Yun has conveyed different points of view of great complexity in a way that’s “been very effective.”

“It’s been informative,” he said.

Then he added, “It’s told the whole history of the country, I suppose. And I think you come away with a greater sense of understanding, perhaps, than otherwise going in.”

He appreciated one element Shen Yun has been famous for: its uncanny ability to stun the eye.

“It’s very bold colors, so from a photographic point of view or visual presentation, it’s very striking,” he said.

The bel canto singers of Shen Yun, who sing solos in between dance segments, unabashedly called out the CCP’s atheist doctrines in the lyrics of one of the songs Saturday afternoon, and some in today’s audience loved that.

“I like the message they had,” said Johnathan Broadway, who runs a construction company. The song spoke of divine creation, he said, as well as calling out atheism and evolution. “I’m glad I brought my kids to it.”

Noting that he’s a Christian, he said he appreciated how Shen Yun depicted the Creator in its opening segment, where the curtain rose and a cloud-bedecked heaven spilled forth into the crowd, filling the whole auditorium with light.

Shen Yun’s spiritual message was also timely. Mr. Broadway said, “I mean, we’re in Easter weekend.”

Reporting by Maple Lynn, Lily Yu, and Michael Wing.

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