SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun’s Beauty ‘Shines Inside Out’: Mrs. Australia International

Mar 14, 2024

SYDNEY, Australia—When Laura Viskovich watched the Shen Yun performance in Sydney on March 13, she had no idea what to expect.

But when the gong sounded and the curtain opened, she was instantly captivated by the vibrant colours and the beautiful smiling faces of the dancers.

“Shockingly, amazingly divine,” said Ms. Viskovich, who was crowned Mrs. Australia International in 2020 and is currently the director of Legacy International Pageant Australia.

“I didn’t know what my mum had booked me for; I came here today, and I think I was divinely-guided to see this.”

As the show went on, Ms. Viskovich was enthralled with the new costumes, new stories, and new messages, which she said happened “so often ... I wasn’t one minute bored.”

“Every single moment, there was something new happening.”

China’s glorious culture is believed to be divinely bestowed. But after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rose to power in 1949, it deemed this spiritual heritage an ideological threat and tried to destroy these traditions.

Shen Yun, a classical Chinese dance company established in 2006 in New York by a group of Chinese artists, seeks to revive this almost lost culture and showcase it to the world.

Ms. Viskovich said Shen Yun’s determination to share this message and the passion of each performer is “just second to none.”

“I thought it was just ballet, but the messages included were very spiritually driven—it resonated with me because I’m very faith-driven myself.”

The message she saw on the stage was to “stay true to your core values and let your heart shine,” the former Mrs. Australia International said.

“The message that I saw was everyone holds their own power. And so when you tap into your spirituality, then you’ll have complete freedom in your life to live and create happiness for people around you as well.”

Coming from a pageantry background, Ms. Viskovich said that Shen Yun’s beauty is “shining inside out.”

“I think beauty is not exterior, it’s interior,” she noted. “And when you can let your heart shine and just be in tune with love and light, then that’s what people pick up, and that’s what real beauty is.”

In a way, what Shen Yun is doing is “very similar” things to what beauty pageants are doing, which is bringing positivity to the world, she said.

“There’s so much negativity that’s happening today. But if we all rise above and bring our love and light to the world, we can all have the power and just make this world a better place to live in, so I love what they’re doing,” Ms. Viskovich said.

“I think it’s very powerful, and I can’t wait to see another show.”

Shen Yun had its sixth consecutive full-house performance in Sydney on March 13 and will be performing at the Capitol Theatre until March 17, after which it travels to perform in Perth.

Reporting by NTD and Nina Nguyen.

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