PORTLAND, Ore.—“It’s wonderful,” said Bryan Haines, a minister, at Shen Yun Performing Arts at Portland’s Keller Auditorium on Jan. 17.
“Boy, the theatrics are fantastic; the pageantry is exceptional; the music is first rate. Very good!”

Shen Yun seeks to revive 5,000 years of divinely imparted culture nearly destroyed by 60 years of communist rule. Through the wonders of music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this magnificent culture.

Mr. Haines was especially stuck by Shen Yun’s unique orchestra, which combines the spirit and beauty of Chinese sounds with the precision and grandeur of a Western orchestra, according to the Shen Yun website.

He said, “It’s remarkable, and really it’s such a new experience. It’s hard to describe because in the typical orchestra the pieces are pretty standardly blended together, but here we are seeing something really different, and it’s really pretty marvelous to think about it, so really wonderful.”

Being a minister, the spiritual undertones of the performance were not lost on him. He noted that the China known throughout the world today does not embody the sense of divinity characterized by traditional China, and “that is something that has been taken away in recent times,” he said.

“We’re getting a taste of a spiritual China that we are simply not familiar with,” he added.

As for the overall message of the performance, Mr. Haines said, “It’s very powerful.”

“It’s certainly powerful; it certainly is an emotional conveyance of the symbolism ... ”

Reporting by Lauren DePhillips and Michael Fitzgerald

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.