BIRMINGHAM, UK—Shen Yun Performing Arts captivated the audience on Jan. 4 in Birmingham. Nick Isham, head of end user services at National Gas, said, “It’s quite overwhelming. The costumes, the music, the dance, the choreography all kind of come together just so beautifully as a representation of the Chinese culture. I didn’t know what to expect when I first came.
“People have talked about it and I’ve seen some trailers of it, but it doesn’t prepare you for when you actually see it,” Mr. Isham said.
As an art form, he said the classical Chinese dance is “just beautiful. It’s fluid. Everybody is so well coordinated. The dancers are clearly very well-trained people. With the music and the costumes, you lose yourself in the show.”
Each Shen Yun performance features a live orchestra comprised of Eastern and Western musical instruments and Mr. Isham said the orchestra added to his enjoyment of the performance.
“I love live music, and I love an orchestra. It just enhances [the performance]. Even without that, it would be fantastic. But with [the orchestra], it just takes it to the next level,” he said.
Production values, especially the patented animated backdrop, adds to the enjoyment Mr. Isham said. “It’s beautiful. I love the way you incorporate real life into the animation behind. It’s very well done. The timing is perfect. It just enhances the whole storyline where you couldn’t quite do that just using a stage and props. You’ve taken it to the next level.”
Shen Yun’s goal is to restore the goodness and glory of China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture and share with the world its beauty before communism.
“I think they’ve done it,” Mr. Isham said. He enjoyed watching a show with positive messages. “Yes, very much. It’s both entertaining and educational all at the same time. I’ve not been to China myself. I'd love to go. But this is like a toe in the water of what traditional China might be like.
“Obviously, there’s a political message underlying a lot of that, where you won’t see a lot of this traditional dance and traditional culture because it’s being repressed at the moment. So it’s lovely to actually have that break out and come and meet the West and expose this to something we probably will never see,” he said.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is now touring its all-new 2025 production to over 200 cities across five continents, and this proves to be its most engaging ever.
