NEW YORK—Singer-songwriter, music producer, and entertainer Gina Heisser had to stretch the limits of her imagination to describe Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“The color coordination of the costumes was beyond beautiful … Very impressive, historically rich and beautiful, mind-blowing.” she said after seeing Shen Yun at Lincoln Center on April 27.

New York-based Shen Yun came together in 2006 with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture with dance, music and a patented digitally animated backdrop. 

Classical Chinese dance, a form of dance that enables very expressive dance pieces, is at the heart of a Shen Yun performance, along with ethnic and folk dance (such as Mongolian and Tibetan dance), and story-based dance. The dancers are adorned with handmade silk costumes and accompanied by digital backdrops and an orchestra that melds both classical Western and Chinese instruments.

“It was my first time being introduced to any form of Chinese art, Chinese history, and I have to say I was really impressed. The show was very well produced, the choreography was amazingly precisely executed,” Ms. Heisser added.

“For 5,000 years divine culture flourished in the land of China,” states the company’s website. “Humanity’s treasure was nearly lost, but through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture.”

“I am very happy that this show was put together, because from what I learned tonight, a show like this would not be possible to take place in China,” she said, adding that this fact made her, “feel very bad for the Chinese people.”

However, Ms. Heisser also expressed she has hope for a better future: “I hope that thanks to shows like this one, the Chinese history and art can spread around the world and can educate people about Chinese culture and Chinese history, and I hope that maybe it can bring change, maybe even in China.”

As a trained vocalist, Ms. Heisser was especially fond of the Shen Yun vocalists, who are known for using bel canto technique to sing Chinese texts.

“The vocalists were absolutely superb, all of them. They didn’t miss a note, they didn’t sing one note off, the execution and the delivery was absolutely superb,” she said.

Ms. Heisser visited Shen Yun with her friend Lamia Ben Aba, who is a corporate lawyer. Ms. Ben Aba was equally impressed and said that she will come again next year.

“For the first time in my life that I am exposed to the Chinese culture this way and I was really impressed and I thought that the show was very beautiful and colorful, very spiritual … I will definitely go and see the next one, next year, and I’m very happy I came.”

Reporting by NTD Television, Valentin Schmid, and Zachary Stieber

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’s New York Company will be performing 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..