NEW YORK—Shen Yun Performing Arts enchanted a full house audience at Lincoln Center on April 25 with a revival of the oldest culture in existence.
Ken Kinsley, founder and chairman of the board of the Kinsley Group professional services firm, said Shen Yun “is absolutely beautiful.”
“I can’t think of enough adjectives to describe it,” he said. His wife Carol also enjoyed the performance.
Classical Chinese dance—one of the hardest dance forms to master in the world—is at the heart of a Shen Yun performance, along with ethnic and folk dance and story-based dance.
Mr. Kinsley said the dancers’ coordination during the intricate dances, along with the freedom of motion, caught his attention.
“I think that is what I liked most of all,” he said. “The beauty of all the dancers moving as one.”
Mrs. Kinsley said that “the fluidity and the precision are unbelievable.”
“The dancers almost have an elasticity,” she said.
Classical Chinese dance has developed over 5,000 years of Chinese culture, being constantly refined during different eras and dynasties, according to Shen Yun’s website.
“China’s deep cultural traditions are contained in classical Chinese dance, allowing its movements to be richly expressive, such that the personalities and feelings of characters can be portrayed with unparalleled clarity,” the website explains. “It is therefore capable of depicting scenes from any time period, whether ancient or modern, Eastern or Western, in a strikingly vivid way.”
The Kinsleys noticed that the traditional Chinese culture presented by Shen Yun—which cannot currently be seen in China because of the oppressive communist regime—is replete with virtues such as benevolence, wisdom, sincerity, and a respect for the heavens.
Mrs. Kinsley said that the dance pieces showing Buddhas were “very fulfilling.”
Mr. Kinley said he was surprised that the traditional Chinese culture is different from what is typically known presently.
“The Chinese culture represented [in Shen Yun] is an incredible culture that has nothing to do with the politics and economics and everything we read about,” he said. “It goes back many years. I am just blown away by this.”
Reporting by Aric Chen and Ryan Jeffries.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is performing at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center through April 28.
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.
