SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Acclaimed non-profit organization Shen Yun Performing Arts performed to an enthusiastic sold-out audience on Saturday evening, March 29, at The Granada Theatre.
Grant House, owner of Grant House Sewing Machines, a sales and service center since 1977, who recently termed out after serving for eight years on the Santa Barbara City Council, was in attendance. Mr. House has also served as city planning commissioner and president of the Greater Eastside Merchants’ Association.
“The grace, the quality of the performance, it was just wonderful,” said Mr. House.
Shen Yun’s website states, “Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture.” Shen Yun is based in New York and was established in 2006.
Mr. House really enjoyed the story-telling aspect of the dancing and the addition of an animated digital backdrop that complemented the performance.
“I love story told through dance,” he said. “The dancing and storytelling, especially the media, the use of the screen behind that took us up into the heavens, it was really very exciting.”
Shen Yun’s orchestra accompanies the dances and consists of both Eastern and Western instruments that give it a unique sound, and musical soloists also occasionally perform between dance pieces. Mr. House loved the solo performance of the erhu, an instrument he had never heard before. He was also touched by the solo singers.
“My mother was a classical singer, and she had a soprano/contra-alto voice,” he said. “One woman tonight who was singing, she brought me back to be with my mother. It was really, really special.”
Mr. House thought the two hosts, who walked onstage between each piece to give an introduction and share a little bit of Chinese culture and history, were wonderful, very personable, and seemed to connect with the audience.
Mr. House said he was inspired by Shen Yun’s artists.
“The inspiration I got from tonight was from the performers themselves. They brought the costumes to life. They brought us back into time, and I felt like we were right there in the villages and right in China from long ago.”
Mr. House also said he appreciated the universal values that were shared with the audience through the performance, and he was grateful Shen Yun was able to come to Santa Barbara. He said his friends and family simply had to see Shen Yun.
“I’m going to be calling friends,” he said. “If they can’t get in here tomorrow, because I think it’s sold out, we’re going to try to get them to go to one of the shows nearby.”
Overall, Shen Yun made a great impression on Mr. House.
“It was uplifting, it was exhilarating, and it was inspiring,” he said.
Reporting by NTD Television and Sarah Le
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
