SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Dallas Couple Say They Love the Graceful Movements of Shen Yun Dancers

Jan 19, 2026

1/19/2026Updated: 1/19/2026

DALLAS—The grace and bearing of the dancers at Shen Yun Performing Arts as they floated across the stage at the Eisemann Center inspired Kay Smith on Jan. 18.

“I loved watching the women. They’re so elegant, and there’s such a grace about them,” said the owner of Lifelong Pilates. “I thought, well, when I go home, I’m going to be practicing some of that posture. I mean, they’re very inspiring.”

The female dancers also transfixed her husband, Earl.

Mr. Smith is now an airline pilot and trainer for American Airlines, but he was a military pilot for 20 years.

“The thing that captivates me is, again, the women,” he said, agreeing with his wife.

In the military, “when you march—everybody—you want nobody up and down.” What the military wants is the marching to be smooth, and that’s just what Shen Yun dancers are like, he said.

“They’re gliding,” he said. “It’s just amazing. So, I just love it.”

In 2006, Chinese artists decided to share traditional Chinese culture with the world and formed Shen Yun Performing Arts. The company presents “China before communism,” which is why it can’t perform in China.

As an atheist regime, the Chinese regime has spent decades trying to eradicate traditional spiritual beliefs, such as those embedded in China’s 5,000 years of civilization. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive that ancient culture through classical Chinese dance and music.

The Smiths saw values they hold in common with the traditional culture of China.

“It makes you appreciate where [the traditional culture] came from,” where, with family and faith, “good things will happen,” Mr. Smith said.

Mrs. Smith said she loved the explicit mention of the divine, faith, and the creator.

“I like to go see things that have moral values to them and that are uplifting,” she added.

According to the Shen Yun website, only at a Shen Yun performance can you see classical Chinese dance performed in its purest form—the way it was originally passed down through the generations.

The grace and bearing the Smiths saw is at the heart of classical Chinese dance. In addition, due to the expressiveness inherent in the dance form, the company specializes in creating story-based dances that bring to life tales from ancient times to the present day.

The couple was surprised that 2026 marks Shen Yun’s 20th anniversary—an anniversary that means that the company’s mission has been successful.

A Mission That’s Important

Sean and Diana Powell enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts with their children at the Eisemann Center in Dallas on Jan. 18, 2026. (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times) — Sean and Diana Powell enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts with their children at the Eisemann Center in Dallas on Jan. 18, 2026. Lily Yu/The Epoch Times

“Five thousand years is a long time,” said Sean Powell, an eye doctor, who also attended the Jan. 18 performance, adding that he thought it was interesting how Shen Yun “started from the very beginning with the heavenly-like Creator and then just kind of go up to the modern times with that last session.”

His wife, Diana, also an eye doctor, and two children accompanied him.

“We’re supposed to really relate to the heavens and our heavenly creators,” and not so much to modern ideas, he said regarding the message in the performance.

He found it easy to relate to Shen Yun’s mission after having experienced being in China for a brief time.

“Just to see how people were not able to express themselves was difficult for me,” he said.

For this reason, he said he believes Shen Yun’s mission is very important: “I think it just keeps us grounded.”

The persecution of people of faith in China “makes you sad,” he said.

However, the performance’s poignancy didn’t leave the family feeling sad. Mrs. Powell said she thought the performance was great and that the all-female dance with long water sleeves stood out for her, where the dancers toss and catch their colorful sleeves and twirl them about.

Mr. Powell enjoyed the dance about the Monkey King, a literary character from the famous novel “Journey to the West,” because in that piece, the dancers leapt from the stage and then seemingly popped into the air.

Shen Yun uses a 3D backdrop to help tell its stories. It is a patented technology that allows the performance to expand the stage without limits.

“The interactive background is really cool,” Mrs. Powell said.

Reporting by Lily Yu and Sharon Kilarski.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.