NEW YORK—Patricia Altshuler, who represents the world’s largest urban women’s organization at the United Nations, experienced Shen Yun Performing Arts at a sold out matinee on Apr. 21.
“I thought they were enchanting, ethereal, beautiful,” Ms. Altshuler said about Shen Yun’s dancers. “They moved like drifts of flowers and blossoms. I loved it.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun has three dance companies touring the world simultaneously with one mission—to revive 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture.
“Of course this is very different—they are showing the more spiritual side,” said Ms. Altshuler, after seeing Shen Yun at Lincoln Center’s David H. Kock Theater. That spiritual side is impossible to experience under the communist regime in mainland China, Ms. Altshuler said.
The Chinese Communist Party “removes the cultural essence of respect for the divine, thereby extracting the heart and soul of traditional Chinese culture,” according to Shen Yun’s website. “Shen Yun seeks to revive these virtues the world over.”
Ms. Altshuler’s particularly enjoyed “Sacred Destiny,” an erhu solo performed by Xiaochun Qi.
“I love the mysterious, almost melancholy, feeling about it,” said Ms. Altshuler.
The erhu is a two-string violin that can convey a range of emotions. It has been around for than 4,000 years and is considered to be one of the most important Chinese instruments, according to the Shen Yun website.
The erhu enchanted Ms. Altshuler.
“I thought, I'd love to sit on the hillside, under a beautiful tree, and listen to the erhu,” she said.
Ms. Altshuler came to see the performance with George Watson, an investment counsel.
While the heart of Shen Yun is classical Chinese dance, as well as ethnic and folk dance and story-based dance, the dancers are adorned with handmade costumes and accompanied by digital backdrops and an orchestra that melds both classical Western and Chinese instruments.
“I enjoyed the music,” said Mr. Watson. “I found it very soothing.”
Reporting by NTD Television, Joshua Philipp, and Ivan Pentchoukov.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is performing at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center through April 28.
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.
