SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Financial Planner Says Shen Yun Is ‘Stunning, Absolutely Magnificent’

Feb 28, 2026

2/28/2026Updated: 2/28/2026

GOLD COAST, Australia—Shen Yun Performing Arts played to an enthusiastic audience at the HOTA Home of the Arts during the evening performance on February 28. John Botfa, mortgage broker and financial planner, was very impressed with many of the dance dramas performed. He said Shen Yun was “Stunning, absolutely magnificent.”

Mr. Botfa said that Chinese civilization is “an ancient culture and something that has stood the test of time. It’s something that we need to engage with.”

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture before communism. The dancers perform pieces from stories of ancient China to the modern day.

Mr. Botfa was moved by ‘The Steadfast Heart,’ which dramatizes the persecution and suppression of believers in Falun Gong, “the meditation disciplines guided by truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance,” according to Shen Yun’s program. “In 1999, the communist regime, fearing the practice’s popularity, launched a brutal campaign to wipe it out.”

“The part where they were persecuted was very touching,” Mr. Botfa said, “because it’s sad to see the dark side of human nature trying to suppress something that is good—Sad for the two sides of human nature.”

Mr. Botfa said, “Most of the show has been about the good. Then that [dance piece] was showing the opposite side, which was the bad trying to suppress the good.”

But he said the end of the dance drama was “fantastic. That was amazing.”

“It was just nice to see how their faith carried them through and how, in the end, their faith helped them survive and come back to being good again, which was wonderful,” Mr. Botfa said.

Audiences have been impressed with Shen Yun’s patented digital backdrop that interacts with the performers as they jump in and out of a beautiful land. “Never seen that before. It’s enlightening. Really, first class,” he said.

Mr. Botfa had lots of fun with the dance, ‘Origins of the Monkey King,’ and other dances. “The monkey king scene was amazing—the way it went from the screen to the actual live performers. ... Very, very good,” he said.

Mr. Botfa said the story of Master Zhang Guolao and his magical donkey “was a bit of fun.” According to Shen Yun’s program, Zhang Guolao “famously rode backward on his donkey symbolizing the idea that going forward is actually going backward.”

Shen Yun features a live orchestra with both Eastern and Western instruments playing original music. Mr. Botfa felt very positive emotions during the performance.

“The music’s peaceful,” he said, and found it very calming. He said, “It’s very magical. It’s lovely.”

Mr. Botfa said, “It’s a culture that I’m not familiar with, and I think this is a great introduction to learn more about the culture. It shows us how my culture is very limited compared to this culture. Thousands of years old, and we are just a fraction of that time. I want to learn more about it.”

He noted how Chinese culture focuses on looking within. “You need to first work on within, and that will control your outer being. That’s a little bit I’ve picked up so far,” he said.

He gave Shen Yun a hearty “100 percent” recommendation. “It’s something that I think everybody should see.”

Reporting by NTD and Yvonne Marcotte.

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