LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Robert August, chemist, and Carly Goebel, dance teacher, were moved by Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on January 24. The first time they had seen Shen Yun, they were both blown away by the beauty and energy of the performance.
“Everybody should experience something like this,” she added, “there’s so much disconnection, there’s so much chaos and grief, and I think something like this … can bring people back into sync, it can bring this world back into sync, [and] remind them of the beauty that’s there.”
The erhu is a traditional Chinese two-stringed instrument that has been called the “Chinese violin.” An incredibly expressive instrument, it is capable of conveying a broad range of emotions, even imitating sounds from chirping birds to neighing horses, Shen Yun’s website explains.
In regard to the erhu soloist, Ms. Goebel said, “she was just making it sing its own song, and you could feel this journey … through joy and grief … it was so incredible.”
Heart-Mind Connection
Mr. August said Shen Yun’s beauty and frequency allowed him to pull himself out of the “mathematical world” and be present in his heart.“I think you get so much into your head, and this brings you into your heart,” Ms. Goebel added, “It facilitates this connection of heart and mind and body.”
“We are prisms, and we are refracting what we bring in,” he said, “[Shen Yun’s] light goes through you and then light shines out … there is a spark of the Creator’s divine energy.”
Ms. Goebel said Shen Yun was like “a beautiful reset, a cleansing.”
Akin to the principle of “being like a mirror,” she said, watching the performance was like “a dusting off of the mirror.”
Moving as One Body
In regard to the classical dancers, Ms. Goebel was impressed with their coordination and ability to move as “one body,” both physically and metaphorically.“I know that they have put hours and hours and hours into perfecting those movements, and they’re so coordinated and incredible … it just brought such a smile to my face,” she said.
“To see them move as one, to become one body at certain points and then to … spiral off into these distinct beings … It [was] just incredible,” she added, “[and] just like the dance … we’re all individuals, but we’re all really one … it’s beautiful.”
“Music and dance, it’s such a language. It doesn’t matter where you’re from. It communicates to everybody,” Ms. Goebel added.
As a dance instructor, Ms. Goebel appreciates all of Shen Yun’s dedication to bringing another spectacular show to the world’s stage and gives her thanks to the artistic director and performers.
“Thank you for sharing your beauty, your art, your medicine, your music, your dance with the world. Thank you for such a healing and uplifting, joyous experience,” she said.
