SACRAMENTO, Calif.—“It’s really stunning,” said Patty Anaya, co-owner with her husband of a local business, when she saw Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sacramento Community Center Theater on Jan. 13.
She attended Shen Yun with Suzy Sharp, who is now retired and looking after her grandchildren.
Both ladies loved the New York-based company’s performance.
“It’s excellent,” said Ms. Anaya. “The dancers must have practiced a long time, I mean they are just in synchronicity. It’s amazing! It’s really beautiful.”
Ms. Sharp added, “The dancing is extremely graceful.”
Shen Yun is based on classical Chinese dance but also incorporates folk, ethnic, and story-based dance.
The Shen Yun website states, “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.”
Ms. Anaya was particularly impressed with the skill and formations of the dancers.
“How well they all danced together, it must take an amazing time of practice, to be so much in sync. It’s beautiful because you can just look at individuals or you can look at the whole scene and it’s beautiful either way, it’s really nice,” she said.
The ornate handmade costumes in a kaleidoscope of colors were a brilliant spectacle for the ladies.
“The amount of detail that they put into the costumes and just how vivid and bright all the colors are,” Ms. Anaya said.
“I loved the one with the sleeves, long sleeves with the flowing,” said Ms. Anaya. “It’s really something to see.”
Ms. Sharp agreed, saying, “It’s very beautiful, and elegant and flowing.”
“It’s absolutely fantastic, the costumes are exquisite,” she added.
Ms. Sharp also appreciated the insight into 5,000 years of Chinese culture, history, and the diversity. She felt it was wonderful to revive what has been lost under communist rule.
“I like also the different ethnic dances,” Ms. Sharp said.
“It’s an insight into the Chinese culture and it’s just amazing and you realize that there is a difference between what is there now, what they’re [the Chinese regime] trying to stamp out and all of the culture that they’ve lost so far and they’re [Shen Yun] bringing back this beautiful culture that’s thousands of years old,” she said. “It will survive.”
Ms. Anaya added, “I agree. It’s just amazing the diversity. I didn’t realize there was so much diversity in China’s different ethnic groups.”
Reporting by Alex Ma and Leigh Smith
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
