HOUSTON—Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company’s performance at Jones Hall on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 24, impressed Billy and Melodye Martin, owners of a travel agency, with its revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
“I love the spirit, the culture, and this was magnificent. I loved it,” Mrs. Martin said.
Mrs. Martin added that she enjoyed the dances and stories that transported the audience back to the ancient dynasties and empathized with the New York-based company’s mission of reviving the traditional Chinese arts.
“To really appreciate it you have to go back to the ancient civilizations and you have to carry it forward to today. You have to take it all in, as history, and get it to the masses of the people and put it all together. It’s an incredible culture, that’s the way I see it,” she said.
Mrs. Martin added that she could feel the artists’ dedication from the performance.
“I could see their faces and their eyes and their spirit, and I know they’ve put a lot of hard, hard discipline and hard work into it,” she said.
“They want to share with the rest of the world to get an appreciation of what China is about … to appreciate it more from all of its history, and not just what we think of it today. All of it, everything,” Mrs. Martin said.
Mr. Martin, who has been to 154 countries, opera houses around the world, and danced with the dancers of the TV show Dancing with the Stars, said he was impressed with the company’s touring.
“I thought it was a magnificent show, very highly trained dancers. It’s very difficult to do the number of dances they did and to be able to change that quickly, and they’re very athletic,” Mr. Martin said.
“I thought the orchestra was fantastic. I really did,” he added. “And having to do this every night, most orchestras don’t do that … it’s a completely different story when you’re on the road traveling.”
Mr. Martin said the music accompanying the dance was “phenomenal … especially setting the tone of the dancing … The music told the story, the dancers told the other half.”
Reporting by Kerry Huang and Catherine Yang.
Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform at Houston’s Jones Hall through Tuesday, Dec. 27. For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
