SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Diverse Group Agree to Shen Yun’s Appeal

Apr 04, 2014
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Diverse Group Agree to Shen Yun’s Appeal
Shanta Ramkisom, Douglas James and Linda Zimmer enjoy Shen Yun Performing Arts at Chicago's the Civic Opera House, on April 3. (Teresa You/Epoch Times)

CHICAGO—“Here’s a Hindu, here’s a Jewish individual, here’s a Christian. So we are a very diverse group of people!” said dentist Douglas James who came with his office manager, Linda Zimmer, and fiscal manager, Shanta Ramkisom, to see Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“My impression of the performance is very elegant, very professional, well synchronized, nice storytelling, very religious, which is good,” Dr. James said. The group attended the performance at the Civic Opera House on April 3.

According to Shen Yun’s website, “Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Its stunning beauty and tremendous energy leave audiences uplifted and inspired.”

“Very graceful,” Ms. Ramkisom said.

“It was very graceful and the costumes were absolutely beautiful,” Ms. Zimmer said.

“A lot of change of costumes, a lot of flexibility with the dancers. It was beautiful, just beautiful,” Dr. James said.

Shen Yun’s hundreds of handmade costumes adorn the dancers who primarily perform classical Chinese dance.

“And the training that they had to have had to be able to perform that way and dance that way” was incredible, Ms. Zimmer said.

Shen Yun, based in New York, presents classical Chinese dance and music to the world as it tours over 20 countries and 100 cities. However, it cannot perform in China, despite the fact that its mission is to revive the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“It also provided us an opportunity to see the culture of China, and, unfortunately, the disparity in what’s occurring the last ten years in China’s government system and freedom of democracy,” Dr. James said. He was speaking of the “totalitarian dictatorship” of China.

“Very uplifting, it was uplifting,” Ms. Zimmer said, but also that there were downs in the performance, alluding to the dances that depict the repression of people of faith by the communist regime.

“But we’re all smiling. The performance, we all enjoyed it,” Dr. James said.

Reporting by Teresa You and Sharon Kilarski

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

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