KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Masters of Ceremonies announcing the Kansas City performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts caught Mr. Tom Beal’s attention, perhaps because Mr. Beal and his wife, Mrs. Linda Beal, owned two radio stations years ago.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, in Kansas City for the Jan. 23 performance, is traveling around the world restoring 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture. It brings classical Chinese dance, an orchestra combining both Eastern and Western instruments, and beautiful handmade costumes, which complement the visually stunning backdrops, according to the company’s website.
“I thought it was outstanding,” Mr. Beal said.
Mrs. Beal loved the costumes. “I thought they were just absolutely exquisite—beautiful, beautiful costumes,” she said.
Classical Chinese dance spans back nearly as long as the ancient culture. “Soaking up profound wisdom from every era and dynasty, it has become a complete system of dance embodying traditional aesthetic principles with its unique dance movements, rhythms, and inner meaning,” according to Shen Yun’s website.
Mrs. Beal said that the dancers’ grace was amazing.
“They were so fluid and so graceful,” she said. “I loved it; I loved the whole show. It’s wonderful.”
Mrs. Beal said the spirituality inherent in Chinese culture and therefore the performance was interesting.
Mr. Beal said the performance helped change his mind about Chinese culture. “It made me have a better feeling toward the Chinese culture and I thought it was great,” he said.
“The story was well done also, with no one talking,” he said. Everything was creative, you could understand what was going on, what was the purpose and what was happening, and I thought that was really interesting. Very well done.”
“Excellent,” Mrs. Beal agreed.
“I would say you would have to go see it, because it is not something you normally see in this country, and the fact of the spirituality and the costumes and the graceful dancers—it’s totally different than our ballet in the United States—totally—but so fluid and so beautiful,” Mrs. Beal said. “I would recommend everybody to see it.”
Reporting by Yue Su and Sharon Kilarski.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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