DALLAS—Birthday tickets brought Gunter Mayor, Don Anderson, an hour south of the small city, to see Shen Yun Performing Arts. And the trip was well worth it.
“It all touches my soul. In one form or fashion, each part tells a different message … and each part resonates with me,” he said during intermission at the evening performance in the Winspear Opera House, on Jan. 10.This was his first time to see Shen Yun and he felt that the traditional Chinese culture depicted in the performance had important lessons for modern people.
“[People in] the East are more in touch with family, with inner soul and inner peace,” he said. “That is the lesson that the West could learn.”
Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Its mission is to revive China’s traditional divinely inspired culture through the performing arts.
Based in New York, Shen Yun has four companies that tour the world every year.
Performances include classical Chinese dance pieces; folk and ethnic dances from ethnic groups around China; mini-dramas that retell ancient legends and stories from classic literature; vocal solos; and instrumental solos performed on traditional Chinese instruments.
Mr. Anderson said the dance had “a lot of beauty” and he could tell it required a lot of skill. He was impressed with the synchronicity of the dancers and said their movements left him with a feeling of peace.
“There is a tranquility in the whole dance too, I’m enjoying every moment of it,” he said.
He also enjoyed Shen Yun’s state-of-the-art animated backdrop.
“The backdrop just helped put it all together, it’s fantastic. Someone has done a very professional job with that,” he said.
Mr. Anderson said he had seen a film with that scene, but thought Shen Yun’s “re-enactment up there on the stage was just fantastic.”
And very different from other depictions of Chinese culture he'd experienced, Mr. Anderson said that Shen Yun’s performance left him with a feeling of serenity.
In Shen Yun, he said “You see the other side, peaceful; the tranquility, the beauty of nature, the beauty of the soul.”
“I just lose myself in it and feel it. I love it,” he said.