LAS VEGAS—Marian Cohen, an oil, pastel and realist painter said, “You have to see this; it’s absolutely fascinating,” when she saw Shen Yun Performing Arts at Reynolds Hall in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts on March 17.
She said the performance was fabulous. “I like everything—the dancing, the way they are presenting themselves, their culture—I just thought it was absolutely fantastic, outrageously marvelous and fantastic.”
She especially enjoyed the digital backdrops throughout the performance, but she thought that a Shen Yun performance isn’t only about dance, music and visual beauty.
Shen Yun is “very different than just seeing dancers. It’s telling you the history of their life. Then, and now,” she said.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has a mission to restore traditional Chinese culture.
Audience members are whisked through China’s 5,000-year history from the Yellow Emperor heralding the establishment of Chinese civilization, to modern stories of courage and perseverance.
Some of the pieces are humorous. Ms. Cohen enjoyed When Shaolin Monks Protected the Emperor. The young monks take a break from their rigorous training and find themselves distracted by a rabbit, which leads to a chase that almost gets them into a lot of trouble with the abbot.
“When it came to the monks,” Ms. Cohen said, “the dancers, they’re human and they get themselves into trouble. It was just interesting how they present themselves.”
Ms. Cohen is drawn to Chinese culture. “I enjoy their culture, I really do,” she said, adding that the spirituality of traditional Chinese culture is valuable.
“My thoughts are that people can learn from different things. You can learn from them, [and] they can learn from you,” she said.
