SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Author of ‘Chicken Soup’ Books Connects With Shen Yun

Mar 06, 2022
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Author of ‘Chicken Soup’ Books Connects With Shen Yun
Crystal and Mark Hansen and their friend Brooke Weekes (L) at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Phoenix Orpheum, on March 5, 2022. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)
PHOENIX, Ariz.—A creation that comes from the heart is an amazing thing to behold. Mark Victor Hansen is the author and co-author of many books including the well-known “Chicken Soup” series. He came to see Shen Yun Performing Arts with his wife, Crystal, and their friend, Brooke Weekes.

“This is the high essence of freedom. These people have flexibility of movement, flexibility of thought, flexibility of dance, and it’s unfortunate, if I heard the narrator right, they are not allowed to do this dance anywhere in China,” said Mr. Hansen.

Shen Yun is based in New York and despite their efforts to show the world the beauty of China, they are not permitted to perform in China.

Crystal Dwyer Hansen, an international speaker, researcher, corporate consultant, author, and entrepreneur, is familiar with present-day China and understood the challenges people of belief have in China.

“We have traveled to China a lot. We find the people to be so delightful and very loving, kind, compassionate, and spiritual, and I know that they struggle with their government. They don’t like communism, it’s not in alignment with their beliefs or any natural human expression,” Mrs. Hansen said.

Mr. Hansen shared his appreciation for Shen Yun’s depiction of creation and the vastness of the universe.

“This is epic, because it’s teaching the cosmogony and the cosmology and epistemology of a great religion that is integrated to the world. That’s why the whole world receives this with open arms. [We’re] not only loving the choreography, but understanding the essence of God within and going up to the consciousness of God.”

Chinese culture and religion has a history of 5,000 years. With such a long history, there is something that everyone can relate to.

“It’s honestly very similar—like the Creator. Buddha is the avatar of the Creator like Jesus is our avatar of our Creator, it’s very similar, and I just really love that,” Mrs. Hansen said.

Shen Yun’s dancers are trained in classical Chinese dance. While the bearing and form of classical Chinese dance make it unique compared to other dance forms, the tumbling and jumping techniques are often associated with acrobatics and gymnastics. But these techniques actually originate from classical Chinese dance.

“We just enjoyed the show tremendously. The precision and the talent, the coordination was so beautiful,” said Mrs. Hansen.

“The choreography and the costuming was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before. It was interesting to find out just the whole history of the acrobats and the gymnastics, that some of those things have been borrowed from ancient Chinese dance.”

Shen Yun uses music and dance to convey beautiful, hopeful stories. Classical Chinese dance is an art form that allows for ample expression without the need to utter a single word.
“It was my first time, and I’m just blown away by the whole production,” Ms. Weekes shared. “The music was beautiful. I really loved the story-telling and just all the details of all the fabrics, all the movements, all the extensions and everything—it was really wonderful,” she said.

Ms. Weekes described how her Shen Yun experience was so uplifting, “It feels like you’re alive and that the music is flowing through your body and it really is quite an experience,” she said.

Mr. and Mrs. Hansen had been wanting to see Shen Yun for six years.

“Every year we’re like, ”We’re going to go, we’re going to go,“ and so we’re glad we’re finally here,” Mrs. Hansen said.

Reporting by Linda Jiang and Maria Han.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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