CINCINNATI—Anne Venters directs fundraising at Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, where she has worked for over ten years. It’s also been ten years since Shen Yun Performing Arts began its classical Chinese dance performances aiming at reviving 5,000 years of ancient traditions.
On Feb. 27, Ms. Venters and Shen Yun crossed paths at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Ms. Venters had received promotional materials by mail, which prompted her to see the show, which she called a “colorfully stunning experience” with the “far-away yet very beautiful” Chinese culture.
“It’s just the experience,” she said, “we don’t have that kind of depth here … the rich history, the spiritual strength, the beauty, the talent of the dancers, it was beautiful.”
Shen Yun Performing Arts and its four touring groups are based in upstate New York. At the heart of its work is classical Chinese dance, backed up by a blended orchestra of traditional Chinese instruments and classical Western instruments, and a state-of-the-art digitally animated backdrop.
Regarding the backdrop, Ms. Venters described the effects as “floating on air.”
“I loved the images of China as well with the background,” she said. “The depth of the show with so many facets … the way it looked, the way it sounded, all the senses, all the senses were merging together.”
Through classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun aims not only to display ancient culture, but revive the essence of China’s civilization, much of which was destroyed or warped for political purposes during communist rule.
Ms. Venters praised the historical and spiritual aspects in the Shen Yun performance, in particular the Buddhist inspirations she saw, as it was a fixture in ancient Chinese society. She called it an “awakening of history.”
“They did a phenomenal job. Phenomenal job,” she said.
Reporting by Nancy Ma and Leo Timm
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.
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.
