BOISE, Idaho—Thom Juul, retired Air Force avionics tech, and his wife Susan returned this year to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Morrison Center on March 2.
“This is our second time seeing Shun Yun, and it won’t be our last,” said Mr. Juul, “it was just so beautiful and so exciting [last year] that we almost immediately bought tickets for this year … and we'll do the same for next year.”
From the moment the curtain rose, Mr. Juul said he couldn’t stop smiling.
“I almost cried,” he said, “[smiling] was all I could do to keep the tears [back] … it was so beautiful—and when the curtain goes down, I want more.”
“This group brings such joy,” said Mr. Juul, “the stories they tell … makes me appreciate the culture more.”
These [dancers] are absolutely amazing. Every gesture, every movement, absolutely perfect,” said Mr. Juul.
“When the men dance, it’s like there’s no gravity up there: They just get so high, and it seems so effortless … they land so gently you can hardly hear them,” he added, “and when the ladies dance, [it’s] just so graceful and so beautiful.”
With its flips and gentle elegance, classical Chinese dance is one of the most athletic and expressive art forms. According to the company’s website, classical Chinese dance involves a dance-acting element where coordinating facial expressions with physical movements results in an amplified form of expression.
“I think the erhu is my favorite instrument,” he said.
The erhu is a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument that has been called the “Chinese violin.” An incredibly expressive instrument, it is capable of conveying a broad range of emotions, even imitating sounds from chirping birds to neighing horses, Shen Yun’s website explains.
As a traditionalist, Mr. Juul said he believes that “tradition is the way we relate and connect with the past and how we relate and connect to the future.”
“To bring this 5,000 years of culture forward, hopefully, it will go on,” he said.
Since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006, the company has grown from 1 to 9 equally large companies that tour the world simultaneously.
