COSTA MESA, Calif.---“This is wonderful, amazing, very graceful ... It’s worth it. It’s just worth a million!” Dr. Anita Jackson said while walking out of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts with Anna Mary Soriano Samson, a clinician. They were in a group of 11 doctors and nurses who came together to enjoy Shen Yun Performing Arts on the afternoon of April 14. This was Shen Yun’s third sold-out performance of an eight show run at the venue.
Established in 2006 in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premiere classical Chinese dance and music company. With the mission to revive five millennia of divinely inspired Chinese culture, Shen Yun has attracted professional musicians, singers, choreographers, classical Chinese dancers, artists, and costume designers from different parts of the world. Each year, the company tours to over 100 cities in five continents, presenting authentic Chinese culture to millions.
“The grace and the message touched my heart,” said Dr. Jackson. “The message about heaven [and] how we are meant to go back to heaven, where we came from. I like this message a lot.”
After attending a Shen Yun performance, many audience members form a new outlook on Chinese culture. Ms. Samson was delighted to be able to learn about an ancient culture. “It’s an exposure of Chinese culture. Especially in the West, we are not so familiar with it.”
Classical Chinese dance has thousands of years of history, a multitude of difficult jumping and tumbling techniques. Its expressiveness, accompanied by the vividly animated backdrop and a live orchestra, transports the audience to faraway lands and thousands of years ago to witness the making of a great civilization through legends and heroes.
Both ladies enjoyed the dancing tremendously. Dr. Jackson said, “[The dancers are] beautiful, and they were all perfect figures, all slender.” Ms. Samson paused to gather her words, and then she said, “Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.”
Shen Yun also features vocalists singing in Chinese using genuine, bel canto technique style. The words they sing are original works brimming with philosophical reflection about human life. The English translation of the words is projected on the backdrop. Dr. Jackson said, “We read all the lyrics. They are beautiful, meaningful, and heavenly divine.”
Reporting by Marie-Paul Baxiu and Sophia Fang
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.
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.
