SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘Very Inspiring’: Composer Says Shen Yun Shares Positivity

Mar 22, 2025

3/22/2025Updated: 3/22/2025

SALT LAKE CITY—The Haywards spent Saturday afternoon at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater, finding in Shen Yun Performing Arts a purity of beauty.

“Really nice to see something that is beautiful, almost for beauty’s sake, more than anything else,” said Dallas Hayward, a retired pianist and carpenter. “It’s beautiful movements, it’s beautiful clothes, everything is nice and clean and beautiful. Nice stories with good messages. You don’t really see that very much here.”

Danielle Hayward agreed: “I just love the beauty of it all. I love the bright colors. So the biggest takeaway for me is just happiness.”

“I think young people should come see it because it’s so well done,” said Ms. Danielle Hayward, a college student. “It’s very inspiring and just really uplifting to see.

John Paul Hayward, a composer, was also inspired by the artists.

“I loved it. I love it and I love the different Chinese influences and the different Chinese instruments. It’s a lot of fun to listen to. It’s very inspiring,“ he said. ”I would love to write music in that vein, using those kinds of instruments, exploring those different motifs and themes. I think it would be a lot of fun.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company. Through music and dance, Shen Yun’s mission is to show audiences the beauty of China before communism.

Mr. John Paul Hayward said Shen Yun was unlike anything he had ever seen and felt it “really enlightening to see just what they experience and what they do.”

“I love the positivity and the focus on bringing people together, eliminating turmoil and oppression. I think all of that is a great message,” he said. “I think it’s all very unifying, it’s all a very positive message.”

As a composer, Mr. John Paul Hayward was interested in how Shen Yun’s orchestra combined ancient Chinese instruments with a classical orchestra, particularly in the two-stringed erhu, which was featured in a solo vignette on stage.

“I want to learn the erhu,” he added. “I think it would be fun. I play cello myself. I know they’re not really similar, but they look similar. I think it would be fun to try.”

Like the cello, the erhu is bowed, but it only has two strings and is sat atop the musician’s knee. The 4,000-year-old instrument is capable of a wide range of dynamics and effects, making it one of the most versatile-sounding instruments.

Mr. John Paul Hayward is also trained in vocal performance and was impressed with the bel canto virtuosos who sang original works in the Chinese language.

“I was talking to my family in between the break that I know the Chinese language is very melodic, very musical. And I imagine that’s very hard to sing in because you have to have those inflections but also sing musically. So I imagine that’s quite the challenge and I thought he did a good job,” he said.

Mr. John Paul Hayward said it was a performance he would recommend.

“Come see it, it’s beautiful. It’s wonderful to come see the different culture, and it’s wonderful to see the dancers and the precision, and to just celebrate all of the hard work. And it’s very wonderful to see other traditions, experience other cultures,” he said.

Reporting by Lily Yu and Catherine Yang.

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