NEW YORK—For years Mr. Eddy Rodriguez had seen the advertising: Shen Yun Performing Arts, reviving 5,000 years of civilization. But being very busy as an Afro-Caribbean drummer, his time was just too tight to come.
However this year, Mr. Rodriguez not only made the time to see the performance, he also shared his experience as well.
“It was phenomenal,” he said, standing in the lobby of the David H. Koch Theater after the Jan. 14 performance.
“From the orchestra, to the singer, to the dancers. It was just a great story of civilization.”
Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance company, founded with the mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture “through the universal language of music and dance,” according to its website.
The Chinese once thought of their land as the “Celestial Empire” and believed “that the divine, through various dynasties, transmitted a rich and abundant culture to the Chinese people,” the website states.
Mr. Rodriguez saw this theme in Shen Yun and said the performance was “fluid” and “very spiritual.”
Dance is a language and an “expression of soul,” he said. “They do it just so beautifully with their arts,” he said of the Shen Yun performers.
Some of the dance pieces in Shen Yun tell stories inspired by legends and historical events. Mr. Rodriguez enjoyed how these pieces brought “down the ancestry.”
Some of the story-based dances also depict today’s situation in China, where traditional beliefs are censored by the Chinese regime. These pieces deepened the emotional experience for Mr. Rodriguez.
“It brought up all kinds of emotions,” he said of the performance. “From sadness for what the people in China are going through, to the joy of their dancing and their art they want to express.”
“I really enjoyed it very much,” he said.
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.
