MIAMI—On the evening of March 13, 2026, the Shen Yun New World Company opened its first performance of the season in Miami, Florida, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Shen Yun’s artistic presentation earned warm and repeated applause from the audience throughout the evening.
Among those attending were development business owner Rene Puchades and his wife, Jenny Bennett. The couple praised the stories portrayed throughout the performance.
“I enjoy the stories tremendously,” Mr. Puchades said. “When I get home, I want to read more about it and learn more. For me, this performance is opening new windows.”
“The whole show is very smooth. For me, it’s very calming and very smooth,” he said.
Classical Chinese dance is known for its incredible potential in expression. The movements allow Shen Yun to retell stories from Chinese history, literature, and its rich tapestry of myths and legends.
“The stories are nice. They’re getting through to me. When you listen to them, they’re portrayed very well—not shoved in your face, but presented in a very eloquent way.”
He also felt the performance conveyed a meaningful message. “So far, it’s a good message. I just want to learn more about the culture,” he said.
Ms. Bennett also expressed admiration for the performance.
Also among the audience was a young man from mainland China, Mr. Zhang. He praised Shen Yun for presenting traditional Chinese values through an outstanding performance and said the show offers Western audiences a window into China’s traditional culture.
Mr. Zhang graduated from a communications university in China and previously worked there as a reporter and television host. He was visiting the United States to see family and friends.
“The overall level of Shen Yun’s performance is extremely high. The performers all have excellent fundamentals,” he said.
“The way each program is set up is really clever,” he said. “Each dance drama is complete, with a clear beginning, development, turning point, and conclusion, showing smooth transitions. The music, dance, and solo performances are also arranged very reasonably. So I think the overall quality of the program is very high.”
He believes the performance serves as an important cultural introduction for Western audiences.
“I think this is a window for foreigners to understand traditional Chinese culture, dance, and music,” he said.
Speaking about the themes presented in the show, Mr. Zhang noted that many of the stories reflect traditional moral values.
“In the performance, there are many stories—for example, officials who bully the people eventually receive retribution,” he said. “This reflects the idea that ‘good is rewarded with good and evil meets its due.’ That is also part of traditional Chinese culture and one of our values.”
When discussing the program depicting the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China, Mr. Zhang said the performance objectively portrays what is happening.
“I’ve heard some things about it,” he said. “News in mainland China is censored, so the public is kept in the dark. I know that situations like this certainly exist, and through the program I learned some additional details.”
Finally, Mr. Zhang said the last piece of the performance left a strong impression on him.
“The final program was very powerful,” he said. “It shows that ‘Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance will ultimately overcome evil,’ and that ‘evil cannot prevail over righteousness.’”
