SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Absolutely Stunning,’ Says Hospice CEO

Jan 10, 2015
SHARE
Shen Yun ‘Absolutely Stunning,’ Says Hospice CEO
Andrea Green (L) and Elaine Connolly enjoyed Shen Yun’s performance on its opening night at the Winspear Opera House, on Jan. 9, 2015. (Amy Hu /Epoch Times)

DALLAS— Shen Yun Performing Arts’ breathtaking music and dance filled the Winspear Opera House on Friday evening. The company from New York performed its first of four shows in Dallas to an enthusiastic audience.

Shen Yun performances feature sophisticated dance techniques, an orchestra joining instruments from both East and West, stunning costumes, and a state-of-the-arts graphics backdrop.

According to Shen Yun’s website, “digging deeper, one discovers a sea of traditional Chinese culture,” where “mortals and divine beings merge on stage as one,” and “respect for the heavens, and divine retribution, all come to life, washing over the audience.”

Andrea Green and Elaine Connolly were among the audience members who took in Shen Yun’s performance on its opening night.

“Absolutely stunning, it’s beautiful,” remarked Ms. Green, CEO of Community Hospice of Texas, the largest nonprofit hospice in the state, serving 25 counties in North Central Texas.

“Very beautiful. Loved the costumes, all the costume changes. The dancing was very elegant, very graceful, precise,” she said.

Shen Yun performs classical Chinese dance, as well as folk and ethnic dances from different regions of China. Dances are performed with an orchestral accompaniment of original compositions.

The Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra blends a Western orchestra, the foundation, with Chinese instruments, which supply the melodies, creating a very pleasing overall sound.

Ms. Green said she greatly enjoyed the orchestra, and also liked the vocal performances by Shen Yun’s award-winning soloists, who sing Chinese lyrics using the bel canto style.

“Ah the baritone, that was great!” Ms. Green said.

Ms. Connolly, a realtor, was likewise impressed by the evening’s performance, proclaiming it “beautiful.”

Ms. Green said she was surprised to learn from Shen Yun that it could not perform in China. “I knew people were persecuted in China, but I didn’t think that their freedom of expression was so stringent that they can’t do a show like this,” she said. She said repeatedly that she did not realize the human rights situation was so bad in China.

Both ladies expressed support for Shen Yun’s mission to revive China’s 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture.

According to the Shen Yun website, The Chinese Communist Party used the Cultural Revolution “to destroy not only cultural sites, temples, and relics, but also the Chinese people’s belief in virtue and faith in the divine.”

“Shen Yun seeks to revive these virtues the world over,” states Shen Yun. A number of its dance pieces dramatize these virtues.

Referring to the dance piece The Power of Compassion, Ms. Connolly said, “Power of compassion wins out.”

Reporting by Amy Hu

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.

Related Topics
Shen YunDallas
SHARE