LIANDUDNO, UK—Tiki Black enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Venue Cymru with her friend Linford Sweeney on Feb. 14.
Ms. Black, a singer, songwriter, and author, found it difficult to express her appreciation for the performance.
“I don’t think there’s words. I thought it was absolutely amazing and at so many levels. There’s so much you can learn about the Chinese culture, as in the many cultures in China and in the many years of cultures in China,” she said.
Ms. Black noted the spirituality in traditional Chinese culture and the message she got from Shen Yun.
“We are infinite. You know that you’ve not arrived, you can always do better, you can always strive for better. I like that kind of divine in us; the spiritual, where you’re always pulled to more. You’re always pulled to tomorrow. I love that. Anything that does that is aligned with what I think.”
Her friend, historian and author Linford Sweeney, said, “Luckily, I sat next to somebody who’s part of the show, and we were talking throughout about the divine and spirituality and all of that. He was saying that’s what the show’s really about. It’s about looking at ourselves and realizing it’s not just about the physical; it’s about the soul.
“And it’s not just about being selfish and the ego. It’s about giving to others, being of service to others. I think that’s an important thing to take away, and the show actually brings that to life,” Mr. Sweeney said.
“That’s really good,” Ms. Black said. “I think we live in a world where it’s so profit-making that sometimes people forget that. You can go into the ethical, the spiritual. You can just try to be more, to give more.”
“One of the things we were talking about was the path, or the many paths that lead to service and giving. Just because I’m on one path and you’re on another path doesn’t mean that either of us is wrong or right,” Mr. Sweeney said.
Both male and female Shen Yun dancers put in years of training to attain the skill in classical Chinese dance that they present on stage.
“The male dancing is magnificent, but the females were just as amazing,” Ms. Black said. She noted how the dancers could smile as if their movement were as effortless as they made it seem.
“You know that thing that we do, where we’re doing things that are really difficult but we’re always smiling.” Ms. Black said of the men’s Mongolian Ethnic Dance. “I just really like that. [People] talk about China like it’s one thing and one century and One Empire, but it’s like loads of little things. That was amazing,” she said.
Ms. Black said the length of the performance was “the right amount, because you have to want more, especially because every year they do a different show. Now I know what my yearly thing is going to be.”
Mr. Sweeney was also entranced by Shen Yun’s live orchestra, which plays original music. “The music was fabulous,” he said.
Shen Yun’s orchestra features a combination of Eastern and Western instruments. A soloist playing the Chinese two-stringed instrument called the erhu is often a popular favorite of the audience.
Ms. Black said she knew a young man who played the violin would have been very moved hearing the erhu. “He would have cried because it does have a little bit of that zing.”
