ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—“Amazing. Fantastic. It as a visual delight. I’m in ecstasy, really. This was really amazing.” These were the words of theater actress, singer, and dancer Dulce Valverde Lenderts after watching Shen Yun Performing Arts with her husband, David Lenderts, M.D., and their son, Ben, at Popejoy Hall March 6.
Mrs. Lenderts was deeply moved by the performance.
She said that the connection between the arts and the divine was brought to the stage so beautifully “that we all can feel the power of the divine where they are performing. It’s really touching. It was really present.”
She felt thankful for all the work of the Shen Yun performers. “It inspires us. It brings meaning to what we do in arts,” she said, because she feels that art is meant for people to express devotion to the divine.
If she could speak with the performers, she would say, “I’m in awe with all of your work.” She said she would encourage them to keep it up and never forget their connection to the divine. “That’s what makes you move the way you move.”
Shen Yun is a New York-based classical Chinese music and dance company that tours to 100 cities worldwide each year with an all-new production on its mission to revive traditional Chinese culture through performing arts.
According the Shen Yun website, “For 5,000 years divine culture flourished in the land of China. Humanity’s treasure was nearly lost, but through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture.”
Mrs. Lenderts was stunned by the beauty of Shen Yun.
“The colors, the harmony [of the] movements, the whole choreographic work is wonderful. It’s exquisite, really. I’m out of words. It’s really beautiful,” she said. She also noted the dancers’ discipline.
She particularly enjoyed the piece Sewing the Flowers of Heaven, describing it as “so, so enchanting.”
Although the majority of the pieces in a Shen Yun performance include classical Chinese and ethnic folk dance, a major feature is the solo vocalists who sing in the bel canto vocal technique while singing Chinese lyrics.
Mrs. Lenderts enjoyed the tenors and sopranos.
“Oh my,” she said, “[the] power of instruments from God. That’s how I see them [vocalists].”
If she has the chance to tell her family and friends, she said she would highly recommend the performance.
“Please go to see the show. It’s an experience you will never encounter in your life. And just come and be in awe and ecstasy like how I feel,” she said.
Mrs. Lendert’s husband, David, also had high praise for Shen Yun.
“It is a visual fruit salad of the most delicious fruit imaginable. I love it—beautiful,” he said, adding,
“Watching the beauty, the costuming, choreography, the incredible ability of the dancers, the singers—it’s absolutely fabulous. I love it.”
In addition to the dancing and the myriad of richly colored costumes, Shen Yun includes a live orchestra and a digital backdrop that complements each piece and transports audiences to distant lands and ages.
“The music and the backdrop—it all weaves into an incredibly beautiful picture. This is something everyone should experience. It’s just wonderful,” Dr. Lenderts said.
He saw something deeper than the aesthetics of the performance, however.
“I can see within this not only the beauty of the history of the Chinese culture,” he said, but also the spiritual element that “related to some very high spiritual things: the need to pursue peace; the need to pursue love; the importance of beauty in our lives.”
Dr. Lenderts said he is familiar with the communist party’s history of religious suppression, and he referred to a piece within the performance that portrays Falun Dafa practitioners’ conviction despite the persecution of their faith.
He said that he’s interested in knowing more about Falun Dafa. “I don’t know a lot about it, but I’m very favorably inclined toward it,” he said.
Reporting by Alice Su and Albert Roman.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is scheduled to perform at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, March 10, and at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Las Vegas, March 15–17. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
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