DALLAS—After years of wanting to see Shen Yun Performing Arts, Elizabeth Wallace finally got tickets to the performance for Christmas from her husband Richard, and the couple thoroughly enjoyed what they saw.
“I thought it was wonderful. … we had [seats around the] fifth row center and it was fantastic. It was gorgeous, the costumes were beautiful, and the music is amazing,” she said after the performance at the Winspear Opera House on Jan. 9.
“They have an amazing gift and the fact that we got to experience it was really a privilege,” she said.
“I think my wife summed it up pretty well there,” Mr. Wallace said.
Both the Wallaces are attorneys. Mr. Wallace, who focuses on commercial and intellectual property litigation, was chosen as one of Texas’ top rated lawyers in business and commercial litigation by Legal Leaders Magazine for 2013 and 2014.
Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company founded in 2006 in New York with the mission to revive China’s 5,000 years of traditional culture. The company’s dance performances, presented in the format of mini-drama pieces, draw upon stories and legends from China’s rich history and culture.
Mr. Wallace appreciated these stories as well as the hundreds of colorful handmade costumes worn by the dancers.
“I really enjoyed learning a lot about the history of China. I loved all the beautiful costumes and it’s just a fabulous show. We really enjoyed it, ” he said.
Mrs. Wallace was particularly struck by two pieces from contemporary China that showed how practitioners for the spiritual discipline Falun Dafa respond peacefully to attacks by Chinese communist police.
The principles of Falun Dafa are truth, compassion, and tolerance, and Mrs. Wallace said she finds these still very relevant to day.
“I loved that. I thought that was awesome…all of us can apply that to our lives,” she said.
“I enjoyed that as well,” Mr. Wallace said. “I find that fascinating, especially with the current state of China”
“We feel like we learned a lot,” Mrs. Wallace said, adding that she had not been aware that Shen Yun cannot perform in China.
“I’m thankful that they get to perform here. … It’s just an artistic expression that I love and it was beautiful and I’m glad we got to experience it,” she said.
Both the Wallaces were also impressed with the music of Shen Yun. Mr. Wallace particularly enjoyed a solo piece performed on the erhu, an expressive two-stringed traditional Chinese instrument known as the Chinese violin. This was his first time to see one live.
“I grew up playing the violin and I ….had never seen it [the erhu] before in person. That meant a lot to me actually to get to see someone play that on stage. That was very special,” he said.
Reporting by John Chang and June Fakkert.
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.
