SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Will Make You Want to ‘Be Kind and Make a Difference in the World,' Says Texas Senator

Jan 25, 2025

DALLAS—Texas Senator Angela Paxton had seen advertisements for Shen Yun Performing Arts for years and has always wanted to attend a performance. On the evening of Jan. 24, at the Music Hall at Fair Park, she finally got her chance. She described the experience as “a dream come true.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s beautiful,” she said. “There’s such great precision, the color is fantastic, and the creativity I see is just very inspiring.”

For Sen. Paxton, it’s very difficult to pick a favorite because she was mesmerized from the first moment the curtain opened.

“There was a male dancer who was spinning and spinning and spinning—it was something I couldn’t even imagine. It just defies imagination how someone could learn to do that. So beautiful, so graceful, so elegant,” she added.

“I felt a tremendous amount of energy [throughout the show.] One of the things I was thinking about is that I’m 61, a mom, and a grandmother. I’m already figuring out how to bring my little grandchildren to see this. I think they would be just transfixed the entire time.”

Sen. Paxton thought Shen Yun was very educational. She was happy to see several ancient Chinese stories, which she was already familiar with, recounted in the performance.

“There is so much energy, it is also so positivity, so happy, and with so much joy—that’s something I want my children, my grandchildren to experience.”

Endowed with 5,000 years of history, China was once known as the “Land of the Divine.” For millenniums, its people believed that by keeping their hearts pure and adhering to strict moral standards, they would be blessed by the divine.

Indeed, for 5,000 years the country prospered. However, after the communist takeover and its spread of atheism, all this traditional culture was systematically destroyed. Today, the New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to bring back the beauty and goodness of pre-communist China.

“This is the China that is the real China. The China many of us interact with today is a very recent phenomenon. I’m just thankful to have friends who are Chinese in descent who have helped me understand that what we see today doesn’t reflect the true heart of China,” Sen. Paxton said.

Reflecting on the artists’ mission to bring awareness to the ongoing persecution of the people of faith by the Chinese Communist Party, Sen. Paxton said, “It’s incredibly brave.”

“I do know this is really happening in China. In the Texas Senate and House, we passed a resolution condemning [China’s forced organ harvest.] We followed up the next session with legislation to prohibit insurance companies from supporting this kind of practice,” she said.

“It is a real evil in our world, and so as I watch [Shen Yun,] I know it’s not just a portrayal of something scary—it’s some people’s true life.”

She would like to tell the artists to “keep doing what you’re doing” and use the talent that has been given by God to “spread a message that everyone in the world needs to hear.”

Last but not least, she urges those who have not seen the performance yet to come and experience Shen Yun for themselves.

“I think [Shen Yun] is such a creative, engaging way to make something that is so important known to many people, and at the same time reminding us of what could be,” she said.

“You have to see this. You have to make time because it will inspire you. It will cause you to think deeply about the value of human life, and it will cause you to want to do good, and be kind, and make a difference in the world.”

Reporting by NTD and Jennifer Tseng.

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