SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Television Station Account Executive Relates to the Message of Shen Yun

Jul 28, 2021

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Absolutely gorgeous and educational were two ways Steve Garman, an account executive with local KKTV television station, described a performance of the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts on Tuesday.

“It’s amazing to me. The very first scene mirrors what I believe about religion coming from the ages back,” Garman said after watching Shen Yun’s performance at Colorado’s Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts.

“If you could ask my family, they’ll go oh my ... this is you. So it’s wonderful. I think it’s great. I’ve learned a lot just from this show about Chinese culture,” he said.

Garman was likewise impressed by the visuals on the stage and the use of a digital projection that extends the stage infinitely.

“It is absolutely gorgeous. The colors, the use of the screen, and then the people popping up behind,” he said.

Performers are able to seamlessly interact with the projection to create magical experiences of characters flying through the sky or diving deep into the sea. This feature is unique to Shen Yun and has since been patented by the company.

“Great use of technology along with the colors and dances, I love it,” he said, adding that his friends should go see Shen Yun as well.

“They need to go see it. They need to go see it with an open mind, and don’t have any preconceived notions of Chinese culture and people because it’s mind-opening,” he said.

Jim and Athena Baschal enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, in Colorado Springs, on July 27, 2021. (Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times) — Jim and Athena Baschal enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Pikes Peak Center for the Performing Arts, in Colorado Springs, on July 27, 2021. Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times

Also in the audience were Athena and James Baschal.

Athena, an event planner as well as a ballet teacher, said she was inspired by the discipline of the performers.

“The inspiration that I’ll take from this production will be the gracefulness and the beautiful formations that you can make with a group of 12 or 24,” Athena said.

“I was really inspired by the formations and the beautiful costumes for sure because in western dance we don’t put a lot of things on our arms, but I think that could be a beautiful addition to the costumes that I’ll be looking for future dances," Athena said.

She said the dances in the performance “makes me think of the dances already going on in heaven right now.”

James, her husband, is a software developer who is also a musician.

“I paid a lot of attention to brass since I played brass,” James said. “The precision [in the performance] is amazing: precision of the musicians, the dancers—it was just tremendous.”

James was also amazed by the erhu soloist. “Oh, that was just incredible. She could do that with two strings,” he said.

Shen Yun’s orchestra uses traditional Chinese instruments like the two-stringed erhu and the pipa and is able to blend them harmoniously with a traditional Western orchestra, creating a unique sound.

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Maria Han.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the company’s inception in 2006.