‘Have never seen anything like that in my life!’

WASHINGTON—The Shen Yun Performing Arts Company returned to the Kennedy Center Opera House on Aug. 25 for six shows. The company was showing its appreciation for the welcome it had received just a few months earlier. Shows sold out, and the theater offered standing-room-only tickets because demand was so great.

The audience showed their enthusiasm while watching the show and honored the artists with standing ovations, two encores, and lengthy applause throughout the show.

Mr. Garton, a policy analyst for a U.S. government office, and Mrs. Garton, who is in women's wear, shared how much they enjoyed the show.

"Fabulous, [I] have never seen anything like that in my life! Very moving. You could feel what they were feeling. We loved it," Mrs. Garton said with a big smile.

When touching upon the more recent history of China, a history that is hidden at times, Mrs. Garton said, "The portrayal of [the persecution of Falun Gong] was beautiful and empathetic—very nicely portrayed."

Mrs. Garton would like to think that the show brings people hope. "If nothing else, to me it helps people understand how we are all so much alike and we struggle with the same things. It can give them hope and can also then give us hope. We can overcome this."

Mr. and Mrs. Garton were impressed with the entire performance and expressed that thought more than once.

"The art is fabulous, the color and the dancing are wonderful. The gymnastic aspects of it, the tumbling and those twirls that they did, I thought those were fascinating," Mr. Garton said. Chinese Classical dance is the origin of martial arts and gymnastics.

Mrs. Garton responded to the inner meaning. "They really portrayed the emotion that was … almost physical coming from them, and I thought that was very moving."

"They were nice stories … fun stories. It’s an interesting way in dance to portray those legends and myths and the mysticism that are encapsulated in those stories. It’s a fun window into Chinese culture," said Mr. Garton.

A six show run will be held at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center Opera House from August 26 to 30.
  For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org