SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘It’s like they’re angels from God’: San Antonio Audience Finds Spiritual Connection With Shen Yun

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‘It’s like they’re angels from God’: San Antonio Audience Finds Spiritual Connection With Shen Yun
Cory and Valerie Cheever enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, on Feb. 18, 2023. Nancy Ma/The Epoch Times
SAN ANTONIO—On the evening of Feb. 18, several audience members of Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts told The Epoch Times that through the beauty of what they saw, they experienced a deep spiritual connection with something greater. Some felt their hearts moved by the love of freedom, divine compassion, or the spirit of humanity.

For Cory and Valerie Cheever, it was emotionally uplifting.

“I just felt at peace, that there was an energy,” said Mr. Cheever, a graphic designer. “We’ve been so cooped up with COVID and stuff, the world has just been so dark. And with that, it helps feel that you were alive, that we have the Savior that comes to help us, that makes us feel better inside, and just saying that everything is going to be OK.”

Mrs. Cheever said she felt “a connection of coming together” and being part of something bigger.

“The energy, the love, the compassion, and everyone coming together,” she said. “To me, it’s more like I get it, I feel it. There’s no words to express—my inner heart telling me that I just feel connected with everybody in the room.”

It's almost like you were in that story.
Valerie Cheever

“I find beauty in that, and I find so much compassion in that,” she said. “It’s almost like you were in that story.”

The Cheevers had wanted to see Shen Yun for years, but tickets were always sold out. But having gotten to see Shen Yun at the time they did, the Cheevers felt Shen Yun delivered hope when it was most needed.
In some of the dances, Mrs. Cheever described, “It just seems like when they came, they came from heaven above.” The animated backdrop and otherworldly costumes certainly aided in that feeling, but for the couple, it was mainly because of the artists’ performances and near-tangible energy.

“It was almost like, this is what we need and this is what we want, and we want to be able to be a part of that too, to rise up and add hope,” Mrs. Cheever said.

“Everything was just amazing, and I’m glad that I came,” Mr. Cheever said. “Absolutely gorgeous. So full of life, and just very, very amazing.”

Mr. Juan Bustamante felt the artists were messengers.

“It’s like they’re angels from God,” Mr. Bustamante said. “They are sending the message which is coming from their heart.”

He felt it was a message of “connection,” that no matter who you were, where you were from, or what you have done, you are connected in humanity—in a humanity that is “trying to make this society a better society.”

“This show is excellent,” he said. “It’s the expression of the culture which cultures in our society are losing today.”

He felt that Shen Yun showed the importance of understanding and honoring one’s roots, a traditional value that is being lost in the modern day. Mr. Bustamante felt the reminder an important one because no matter one’s ethnicity, “you need to know where you came from, because if you don’t remember where you came from, then you’re going to repeat the same mistakes that our ancestors made.”
He was inspired that Shen Yun was taking the best of China’s 5,000 years of civilization and carrying it forward. China was once known as the Celestial Empire, and its culture was divinely inspired.

“This is a glorious inspiration that the Chinese people have not forgotten with all the turmoil that is going on with it within our society,” Mr. Bustamante said. “It is always very important to remember what our ancestors established for us to move forward.”

“Let’s not erase our culture. Let’s endure and embrace our culture so, we become a better culture in the future. That is always important,” he said.
Reporting by Nancy Ma and Sally Sun.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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