ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Rock and Claire Wagner attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts in the Mahaffey Theater on April 2.
The Wagners had a very good impression of the overall performance. “I just thought it was well done and very uplifting. Very uplifting. I really liked it,” Mr. Wagner said.
Mrs. Wagner agreed. “The coordination and everybody’s so tight, and all their skills are amazing. All the dancers were just amazing. Just the performance with the screen coming out like the 3D, that was just spectacular!“
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists and quickly became the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture.“The last [piece] was really good because, even with the evil and everything, good always wins out, right?” she said.
“I loved that!” Mr. Wagner said. “That really indicated to me, I’m a part of the Artists for a Better World, and so I can see how art can actually uplift humanity. Then the evil will just go away because we are just so forceful and just so beautiful. It’s just hard to resist I love it!”
Mr. Wagner loved the musicians and the Chinese instrument called the erhu. “They were very good, very well trained. I loved the [erhu] instrument more than anything, the two-stringed instrument. That was really neat. It’s gorgeous. Music is what we love. It’s a great thing,” he said.
They said Shen Yun delivered a strong message. “My thing is just that art overrules any bad or evil in the world. That’s just my thing, just because it’s just so beautiful,” said Mrs. Wagner.
The Wagners had a message of encouragement for the performers. “Thank you so much! Thank you for your time, and all the effort that goes into everything that you do. You make it look effortless, and so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” said Mrs. Wagner.
“It was very beautiful,” Mr. Wagner said. “It lifted my spirit [with] the amazing coordination and beauty. I loved every part of it. It was excellent. Thank you so much.”
