LOS ANGELES—Denise Domergue, former longtime director of the American Institute for Conservation and now founder of a nonprofit art organization, found something exceptional in seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts.
“I felt like I really, I really imbibed something that was that was unusually wonderful, worth every minute. And I just feel enriched,” Ms. Domergue said after seeing Shen Yun at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Jan. 17. Ms. Domergue attended the performance with her friend, Diane Lawrence, who has studied traditional Chinese culture and history, and was familiar with the deeply spiritual nature of the 5,000-year-old civilization.
“The emphasis on kindness,” she said.
Ms. Lawrence said the stories in Shen Yun not only spanned history and legend, including an episode from one of her favorites, “Journey to the West,” but even included a story-based dance set in communist China.
In it, Chinese people reconnect with their spiritual nature, including a character that had previously fallen in with the Communist Party, she said, and it had happened because people had appealed to his kindness.
“I loved it,” she said. “I liked a lot of things about it, but especially the introduction of different aspects of the Chinese culture.”
“Just the skills were really, really impressive, and it was fun to see a real live orchestra,” Ms. Lawrence said. “Everything was so perfect and coordinated. We especially liked the person jumping down and then coming up on the screen; that was really clever, the backdrops.”
Ms. Domergue agreed, adding that “the backdrops were absolutely stunning.”
“I just thought it was beautiful and exciting, you know?” she said. “It was so just inspiring everything and the music, everything, I loved it. I’ve never been so immersed in a Chinese cultural event than this.”
“I was delighted,” she said. “I’m so grateful that I came.”