DENVER—As a birthday present, company director Rachelle Moschetti brought her mother to see Shen Yun’s matinee performance at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House on Chinese New Year, Jan. 22. At the end of the event, she exclaimed excitedly that
Shen Yun Performing Arts was “a true gift.”
“I loved the performance. It was stunning, engaging, and entertaining,” she said, “I’m leaving with a smile on my face.”
According to its
website, the name ‘Shen Yun” translates directly into “the beauty of divine beings dancing.” Based in New York, the artists have made it their mission to revive, through dance and music, China’s divinely inspired civilization to its pre-communist glory.
Ms. Moschetti was touched by every aspect of
Shen Yun’s performance. “It was a definite journey,” she said. “I was moved by it. It was beautiful visually and I loved the personality of the orchestra—it just all came together.”
“I felt it in my heart not only through the songs but truly through the movements of the [dancers,] and how they told the story. You were visually stimulated. The colors, the sparkles, the music—it was just all together a beautiful, beautiful entertaining afternoon.”
Though Shen Yun Performing Arts is well-beloved by audiences around the world, it is currently forbidden by the ruling communist regime to perform in China. In fact, many of Shen Yun’s founding members had come to America to escape persecution by the
communist party.
Ms. Moschetti said learning about this made her “very grateful for our freedom [in America].” She was also thankful that
Shen Yun has found a way to keep Chinese history alive and “then extend it to us, to have us be educated.
“[Communism] hurts my heart. I don’t want that for anyone but I’m grateful for the ability to see the performance and to [recommend] others to come and support it.”
Reflecting on her experience, Ms. Moschetti said Shen Yun offered the audience two separate journeys. One for them to understand history, dance, and China, while another “for the guests to be able to come along and laugh—to giggle a little and then be awed.”
“It was just lovely, these two journeys.”
Reporting by Lily Yu and Jennifer Tseng.
