FORT MYERS, Fla.—Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s foremost classical Chinese dance company, gave a performance Jim Borys and Brenda Davis will not soon forget.
“It’s magnificent!” Ms. Davis said, at the iconic Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall, on Feb. 10.
Mr. Borys, now retired, was a general manager of a manufacturing company. Ms. Davis, also retired, was president and owner of a corporate-training company.
Ms. Davis said they had both been looking forward to seeing Shen Yun.
Established in New York in 2006, Shen Yun has a mission to reawaken the 5,000-year-old divinely inspired Chinese culture, desecrated under 60 years of communist rule, according to the company website.
“It was just wonderful. The girls are breathtaking. They’re so synchronized and graceful in their movements,” Ms. Davis said. “It tells a good story. You can follow along with it. You can understand the language. The dance is easy to follow along.”
Mr. Borys said the opening number was “magnificent, really good!”
He admired the perfection that Shen Yun had accomplished, which exceeded his expectations. Ms. Davis “absolutely” agreed.
She sensed a spiritual theme throughout the entire performance, complemented with hi-tech digital backdrops “and how it just all flows. Yes, it was excellent.”
“With state-of-the-art graphics technology, Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one,” the website states.
Mr. Borys was intrigued by the digital background “and the way it changed from the character on the background to life on stage. That was excellent,” he said.
He particularly admired the “grace and beauty” of the female dancers in the opening story dance, Grand Descent of the Deities, all choreographed to move in synchronized patterns.
Ms. Davis believed that Shen Yun’s mission to revive ancient cultural values was relevant in these present times.
“I think there is a movement in America, as well as China, for the earth and the soul,“ she said. ”I think it is a grand coming together on a grand scale.
Summing up in a few words, Ms. Davis said Shen Yun was “breathtaking, thought-provoking.”
As for Mr. Borys, he thought there should be more of this type of cultural experience, as presented by Shen Yun.
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.
