Kimberly and Bill Coward enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Phoenix Orpheum on Feb. 21, 2023. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)
PHOENIX—For Bill Coward, a vice president in finance, Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Phoenix Orpheum was “a window into previous times.”
“I appreciate that. I think we get kind of lost in today’s modern society, and it’s nice to see the tradition, and see obviously the demonstration through dance of the tradition, the values,” said Mr. Coward, who attended the Feb. 21 performance with his wife Kimberly.
“They’re wonderful,” Mrs. Coward said. “We love it. It’s beautiful.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
A Spiritual Connection
For Jeff Arner and his young daughter, Shen Yun was “an experience that both of us will remember for a lifetime.”
“This is her first experience of being in a theater. She was very excited about all the dresses, and all the twirling and jumping inside,“ said Mr. Arner, deacon and director of education at St. Elizabeth Seton. ”I think it’s about learning about a different culture, and seeing how the love expressed, and the dignity for each person, and for the value, you know, the truth. Trying to express what truth, and what love is supposed to be.”
Though ancient China was worlds away from Mr. Arner’s own, he felt great commonality in terms of values, and spirituality.
“I think it was just seeing the great gifts that God has given us, to be able to express ourselves in such a way that can communicate the beauty and the awe of the human person and Creation,” he said.
He felt this evident through Shen Yun’s beauty. “For me, I see how God shows himself through each and every human person. And so how they express their gifts and their talents speaks of God’s beauty and his love for all of us.”
From the long, flowing sleeves said to be inspired by attire worn in the heavens, to the stories of divine beings coming to the aid of the kindhearted, to the events from classics such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “Journey to the West,” the ancient Chinese believed the divine had a hand in it all. The culture Shen Yun seeks to revive is a divinely inspired one.
“It was beautiful learning about another culture,” Mr. Arner said.
‘Just Really Stunning’
Rebecca Martos and her daughter enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at Phoenix Orpheum, on Feb. 21, 2023. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)
Rebecca Martos, filmmaker, attended the performance with her young daughter as well. A producer who works in animation, Ms. Martos is tuned in to the visual, and found plenty of inspiration in Shen Yun.
“We’ve been waiting to come to this for over a month now,” Ms. Martos said. The mother-daughter duo were not disappointed; Ms. Martos said the dance, costumes, innovative backdrop all had the two of them excited, creating an experience.
“I think it’s great and just so interesting to see, but it also makes me interested in learning more,” she said. “Just the beauty of the art form itself is just stunning. Just really stunning.”
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