SAN FRANCISCO—Fred Molfino, managing director of a wealth management and finance company, took his wife and two sons to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 7.
His wife is part Chinese and his sons are at a Chinese American school, so Mr. Molfino and his family were keen to experience traditional Chinese culture through the arts.
“It’s wonderful to have this exposure to culture,” Mr. Molfino said after the show.
A New York-based performance company, Shen Yun is dedicated to restoring and reviving traditional Chinese culture, according to the company’s website. Using classical Chinese dance, original scores combining Western and Chinese classical instruments, and heartfelt songs, Shen Yun takes the audience on a journey through China’s 5,000-year-old culture, from ancient times to the present-day.
There was so much for the family to enjoy in Shen Yun, Mr. Molfino said.
“They enjoyed the music and the dance,” he said, but it was particularly “the energy of the performance” that so engaged them. “Fantastic,” he said.
There were so many aspects of Shen Yun that appealed to Mrs. Molfino that she proceeded to list them, only to get side-tracked recollecting one particular performance, the Joyful Little Monks. The dance depicted young apprentice monks, at once dedicated and playful, as they go about their chores in a secluded monastic life.
“I loved all the costumes. I loved the orchids. Loved the snowflakes in spring. I loved the monks—the joyful monks—I thought that was brilliant, very, very sweet and funny,” she said.
Mr. Molfino said the boys had enjoyed Shen Yun too, summing up the whole performance as “fantastic.”
“It was wonderful, [a] great family event,” he concluded.
Reporting by Gary Wang and Shar Adams.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world.
Shen Yun New York Company will perform in San Francisco until Jan. 8, and then continue on to Los Angeles.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
