LOS ANGELES—Stefan Vogel and Valentina Reutow returned to see Shen Yun Performing Arts this year after an amazing experience last year. This time they were able to see the New York-based company’s performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 14.
“Very impressed,” said Mr. Vogel, who is the CEO and founder of California Real Estate Investment Group, and a former competitive ballroom dancer.
A performance by Shen Yun consists primarily of dances that use classical Chinese dance as their medium—an art form that has been passed down and refined over thousands of years of Chinese culture. Each dance draws on something from Chinese tradition, whether an historical episode, story and myth, or dances by some of the many ethnic groups of China.
Mr. Vogel said he was “very touched by the tradition, by the history shown by the performers.”
“I’m touched, very touched. … The long history, nothing I know of in Europe can compete with that, we have a history too,” said Mr. Vogel, who originally came from Germany.
“America’s history is quite young. The Chinese history, they said 5,000 years—that’s quite some story.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture, which has been suppressed by the Chinese communist regime over the last several decades.
“I personally liked the parts of the show where they connected to the actual history of the persecution of the believers and the way they maintained their belief,” he said of the dances that depict the persecution of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice rooted in traditional Chinese culture. Practitioners of Falun Dafa have been brutally persecuted in mainland China since 1999.
“For me, the bottom line of the story is that the truthfulness of the people and those beliefs should be shown and demonstrated more often. Especially now, since these values are in decline. So to keep up these values is a very important part,” he said, referring to the values of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance that are the guiding principles for Falun Dafa practitioners.
Ms. Reutow, who works for an import company, was also touched by the performance.
“I’m very touched,” she said. “I loved the color, the music, the performance on the stage.”
“The dancing part was amazing—the expression on their faces, you can see that they really feel what they perform.”
Mr. Vogel also commented on the dancing, saying: “The way they precisely execute all those movements that control the speed dynamic, all of that; we don’t see that very often in other performances.”
The couple said they would be sure to come back next year.
“We will watch it again,” said Mr. Vogel.
“We will be here again next year,” echoed Ms. Reutow.
