SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Theatregoer Says Shen Yun Is ‘Overwhelmingly Beautiful, Overwhelmingly Profound’

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Theatregoer Says Shen Yun Is ‘Overwhelmingly Beautiful, Overwhelmingly Profound’
Lanning Levine saw Shen Yun Performing Arts at The Hanover Theatre in Worcester on Jan. 15, 2023. NTD
WORCESTER, Mass.—Lanning Levine, C suite executive and cultural ambassador, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at The Hanover Theatre on Jan. 15.

“It’s just a wonderful show … I think it’s fantastic,” he said.“I like seeing the dance and hearing the music all through storytelling … it’s a great way to communicate and educate.”

“It’s divine,” Mr. Levine said.

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with Chinese folk and ethnic dance, a live orchestra, and solo vocal and instrumentalists, the production presents story-based dances that depict the history and traditional culture of China from ancient times to the modern day.
“I’ve enjoyed the link back to ancient China,” Mr. Levine said. “I’ve always enjoyed the stories of the Monkey King … so it’s wonderful to see that incorporated into the show as well as bringing it up to modern life in China.”
Mr. Levine was very impressed by the company’s patented method of integrating a 3-D animated backdrop with the stage performance. It allows the performers to travel back and forth between the stage and the background projection.
“I love the animation, the way you see the Buddha come through … the heavenly kingdom … just wonderful how it transforms into the audience and onto the stage,” he said.

‘We Transcend Whatever Is Put on Us’

Arden Twining saw Shen Yun at The Hanover Theatre,  in Worcester, on Jan. 15. (Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times)
Arden Twining saw Shen Yun at The Hanover Theatre,  in Worcester, on Jan. 15. Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times

Arden Twining, head of learning and development, was moved to tears by the beauty of Shen Yun at The Hanover Theatre on Jan. 15.

“It was overwhelmingly beautiful, overwhelmingly profound,” she said, “I cried twice during the show—tears running down my face—because it was profound, it was truly an awesome experience.”

Since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006, its mission has been to revive the traditional culture of China through music and dance. The age-old culture has been on the brink of extinction since the Chinese communist regime seized power in 1949. Shen Yun says its performance demonstrates “China before communism.”

Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, a meditation and spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

Ms. Twining was saddened to learn that the Chinese people today “can’t express their religion, they can’t express their faith, they can’t express their true history” and said Shen Yun expressed “really terrifying things in a very beautiful way.”

She was very upset to learn that the practitioners of Falun Dafa, who she said are “giving people something for their hearts and their souls” are being “squashed so terribly.”

Ms. Twining felt that the ability to express such profound messages is best delivered through the arts.

“It’s through art that people can connect … very deeply and easily.”

“Because [the persecution’s] expressed artistically, people understand it intrinsically … you feel it emotionally, you feel it in your heart,” she said. “It’s so profoundly well done and beautiful and strong.”

“What I learned from [Shen Yun] is that the human spirit is indomitable, it can’t be crushed,” she said. “Humans can be crushed, individuals can be crushed, but the human spirit cannot be crushed … we transcend whatever is put on us.”

“I got some hope from it,” she added.

Reporting by NTD, Sherry Dong, and Jennifer Schneider.
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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