Nadya Padilla praised New York-based Shen Yun’s performance and its mission, which is to revive authentic Chinese culture and its profound feelings and spirituality. She attended the Feb. 1, 2020, performance at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Texas’ capital city.
“When you bring a company like this, they integrate their perspective and their traditions and how they feel, and how they look, and how the culture—that classical culture is very beautiful, is very beautiful to see,” she said.
The ballerina has a personal connection with communist suppression: her husband is from Cuba, a place, she says, that Americans know too little about.
“It was an eye-opening for me, that with, even though my husband, who’s from Cuba, came from the communist system, you don’t know what’s happening in their world,” she said.
“That freedom that they don’t have to continue to their religion, or continue their spiritual beliefs is really sad, very sad,” Padilla said. “They don’t have that freedom, and how important that freedom is, you know. So it’s a beautiful thing for us to see because a lot of us don’t know that. So I appreciate that. I appreciate what the choreographer did.”
Padilla had high praise for many aspects of Shen Yun.
“My overall impression is incredible beauty. Coloring is so wonderful to see. The dancers are very nice. The choreography is simple but very beautiful, very harmonious, which is what I think the feeling of the Chinese culture,” she said.
“When you see the dancers on the stage—they project beautifully, the costumes project beautifully. It really is a special thing to see,” she said. “You don’t see that very often, you know. So, I really highly recommend people coming to see it.”
“I would definitely tell anybody and everyone to come see [Shen Yun],” Padilla said. “My son lives in New York City, and he hasn’t gone to see it. And I said, ‘Well, why?’ He says, ‘Oh, they, you know. I don’t know, I guess because there’s a lot going on,’ and I’m going to tell him, ‘You should go see it.’ I really would highly recommend them to go see it, because I think it’s, you know, it’s beauty. A lot of beauty, so. And that’s a very nice thing to see.”