ORLANDO, Fla.—Dr. Charles Thompson and his wife, Angie, and their daughter, Eliza, attended the Shen Yun Performing Arts presentation at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, on Jan. 24.
Dr. Thompson, who is a vascular surgeon at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, showered the New York-based world’s foremost classical Chinese dance company, with praise.
“Very beautiful dancing, wonderful costumes, fantastic choreography, very nice. Very nice music too, great musical score,” he said at intermission.
Dr. Thompson also hailed the Shen Yun production thus far as “very informative.
“A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops-together creating one spectacular performance,” according to the Shen Yun website.
“I thought there was a very interesting spiritual message. It was a very interesting cultural experience for us too … very inspiring,” he said.
Angie Thompson, a nurse, was also enjoying the performance.
“The costumes are awesome,” she said. “The choreography is great, everybody is right on, you know, on beat. Everybody is very together, and we think it’s great.”
“China was once known as the Divine Land, its glorious culture said to have been brought down from the heavens. But under the last 60 years of atheist communist rule,” according to the program book, this divinely inspired culture has been almost completely destroyed.
In response, leading Chinese artists from around the world came together in 2006 with a mission to revive authentic Chinese culture.
“I think it’s very important to preserve these sorts of cultural things, and I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for Americans to learn about Chinese culture, particularly when they’re spending that much time preserving the culture and showing it to us Americans,” Dr. Thomson said. “It’s a fantastic family experience. My daughter loves it too.”
Dr. Thomson was moved in many different ways during the first half of the performance and was looking forward to the second half, he said.
“It’s got an emotional draw to it, so, you feel very involved in the stories. It’s a story with dancing and with music.”
Shen Yun far exceeded their expectations and both would not hesitate to recommend the performance to others.
Reporting by Edie Bassen and Raiatea Tahana-Reese
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.
The 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.
