NEW YORK—Minutes after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at Lincoln Center Saturday afternoon, Kevin and Loretta Mannion told all their friends on Facebook to catch the fabulous performance while it was still in New York. Shen Yun is at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center until Jan. 18.
Mr. Mannion, a media executive, and Mrs. Mannion, an artist, both summed up the experience the same way.
“It was magical,” Mr. Mannion said. “It’s a show that appeals to your sense of beauty, elegance, goodness.”
“And that touches peoples’ hearts,” Mrs. Mannion added.
Established in New York, Shen Yun seeks to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. China was once known as the land of the divine with a culture imparted by heaven, but the traditional culture was almost lost under communist rule.
Shen Yun’s performances demonstrate the virtues of benevolence, wisdom, propriety, and respect for the divine, according to the website. Through the universal languages of music and dance, the artists present the ideals of traditional Chinese culture.
The sense of magic is one many audience members share, as Shen Yun’s presentation is notably unique in many aspects.
Shen Yun Orchestra accomplishes an unprecedented feat by blending ancient Chinese instruments like the 4,000-year-old erhu into a full western symphony in a completely harmonious way, according to the Shen Yun website.
The digital backdrop is animated, allowing dancers to appear in the heavens on screen one moment and on stage the next. The scenes transport the audience from undersea palaces in ancient myths to the rugged mountains of the Hunnan province in a Yi ethnic dance.
As an artist and watercolorist, Mrs. Mannion was particularly drawn to the brilliant colors of Shen Yun. The way the colorful costumes moved in particular was magical, she said.
In one dance, female dancers emerge from the fog as phoenix faeries in deep, azure skirts. In another, the male dancers don the broad, tasseled capes of the Yi ethnic group. Hundreds of pieces are created each year for an all-new performance.
Reporting by Wei Yong and Catherine Yang
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.
