HOUSTON—Shen Yun Performing Arts’s revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization was an artistic inspiration for artist Niki Serakiotou, who attended the performance with her husband at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston, Dec. 28.

Having heard New York-based Shen Yun Orchestra in Houston on their North America tour a few months ago, Mrs. Serakiotou decided she needed to see the spectacle to go along with it. 

“It was fantastic,” Mrs. Serakiotou said. “I loved the colors; we loved the music.”

“My husband and I, we loved the different instruments,” Mrs. Serakiotou said. Shen Yun Orchestra combines traditional Chinese instruments and a full western symphony, creating a completely unique sound.

“We are of Greek origin, and this music really talks to us. There’s some common thread, I guess,” said Mrs. Serakiotou.

In the costumes Shen Yun performers wore, Mrs. Serakiotou said she saw the different slices of time and the many regions of China.

The costumes, especially, were a personal inspiration to Mrs. Serakiotou, who is a painter and amateur dressmaker as well.

“They make you feel so free to use the color this way,” Mrs. Serakiotou said of the brilliance she saw in Shen Yun’s costuming. “It was actually very inspiring.”

“I’m now looking forward to mimicking some of the cuts and seams, and the way the dress flows,” Mrs. Serakiotou said. “It’s very, very beautiful.”

Moved to Tears

Ms. Annie Grace attended the performance as well, having received tickets to Shen Yun from her mother for Christmas. 

Recalling the performance Ms. Grace saw Saturday afternoon, she was moved to tears.

“It’s so emotional. They’re so beautiful!” Ms. Grace said. “The feelings they make in your heart and your soul, I’m speechless. It was really beautiful. I'd love to watch it again.”

Mrs. Anne Bennett, Ms. Grace’s mother, said Shen Yun was more than one could imagine.

“Beautiful. Spectacular. Any word that you can think of cannot describe how marvelous it was,” Mrs. Bennett said, adding she wanted to thank the artists.

Ms. Grace marveled at the costumes and digital backdrop, which helped take the audience on a 5,000 year journey, showing scenes from undersea palaces to the moon.

“It seems like they just walked out of the backdrop,” Ms. Grace said of the dancers.

The spirituality of the traditional Chinese culture was what moved Ms. Grace to tears, she said. She thanks “them so much for what they do.”

“Oh, it makes me cry just to think about it,” Ms. Grace said.

Besides being a beautiful performance, it was also educational, Ms. Grace said. She said she had not realized that Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China because of the traditional values the performance supported. The communist regime has undermined traditional culture in China for decades. 

Ms. Grace said she was inspired to find out more, and wanted to help in some way.

“It’s been really an education,” Ms. Grace said.

Reporting by NTD Television and Catherine Yang

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts. 

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.