“It was absolutely beautiful,” said Coryell, the owner of an interior design studio and store. “[The performers were] athletic, and it was creative and beautiful to the eyes. I was smiling ear to ear the whole night.”
Coryell said the music and dancing were perfect, and that Shen Yun’s dancers exuded beauty and passion on all levels.
“You could feel the energy was great. It represented positivity, love, and happiness,” she said.
“I was impressed by how much emotion she can get out of two strings. I’ve never heard that before, never seen it in person,” she said.
Alongside her aunt, Pierce was sitting behind the conductor where she was treated to an exceptional experience.
Coryell said Shen Yun was also an educational experience, as it was the first time she had learned about China’s ancient culture. She enjoyed the way the dancers used movement to portray emotion and tell stories that are the legacy of China’s culture, as well as present-day events.
Marion Oliver McGaw Hall, in Seattle, on Oct. 2, 2021. (Michael Green/The Epoch Times)
Attending Shen Yun was also a highly insightful experience for Kenneth Patchett, the CEO of a data center.
Although Patchett has spent a long time working in China, it was only after watching Shen Yun that he realized China’s history actually boasts a spiritual culture that has existed for millennia.
It is great that Shen Yun is presenting this and highlighting the oppression and religious persecution that is being carried out in China today, he said.
Patchett was referring to one of the dances that portrays the persecution of Falun Dafa, a spiritual group whose teachings are based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
“[M]ost people just don’t understand that there is that kind of oppression that’s still occurring. There’s not freedom of religion or speech,” he said.
Although an estimated 70–100 million Chinese were learning and practising the teachings of Falun Dafa, the spiritual practice was banned in China in 1999 despite bringing benefits of improved mental, emotional, and physical health to many people. Adherents were vilified, imprisoned, tortured, and even killed, a practice that is still continuing today.
“I think it’s really important to talk about spirituality and the freedom to express that ... people should have that around the world and in China as well,” Patchett said.
