Diana Miller, an attorney, said “amazing music and amazing performance, and the discipline that goes into it is just unbelievable. It’s so fantastic to watch, and we like the message that you’re getting out” about communist China’s persecution of the spiritual discipline Falun Dafa.
“It’s the culture they are bringing for us. It’s just the color and the performance and the dances and the beauty and then the amazing time we are having. But at the same time, we are learning about them,” said Ms. Farah Habib, a company vice president.
The traditional culture depicted on stage is something the communist regime in China has sought to destroy, since it took power in 1949. Shen Yun also tells stories of modern-day courage, spotlighting the human rights atrocities against Chinese people who hold onto faith despite persecution.
“I think it’s a wonderful way to get the message out and it gets to more people that way if you can do it through the art form,” Ms. Miller said. “And it should be a message that gets out to many people because it’s happening, it’s very realistic. I know it’s happening in China, and people are being put to death and their loved ones are being taken from them.”
Theatergoers took note of a deeper message and praised Shen Yun’s efforts to share it with the world.
“I love the message that they bring with every movement and every song and every performance,” Ms. Habib said. “That’s what binds humanity together. You have to have compassion, you have to have love, and you have to have understanding of everybody coming from a different perspective.”
Author Mr. Ammar Habib said, “I think the message is kindness supersedes culture, kindness supersedes race. And the message is that kindness and compassion is how you overcome oppression, overcome those divides we make as humans.”
“I played in an orchestra through college, and so I know the discipline. And the music is just as fantastic and beautiful. The whole thing is one of the most amazing theater performances that I’ve ever seen,” Ms. Miller said.
She said of the erhu, the Chinese two‑stringed fiddle, “That was amazing that they can make so many sounds out of it, and that it must have taken years and years of discipline to learn that instrument. It was just really beautiful, the range that it could go to with just two strings.”
Shen Yun, based in New York, has eight companies touring the globe simultaneously, bringing an all-new program every season for audiences around the world to enjoy.
“This is one of the most amazing experiences as far as the dancing and the music and the culture. Bring [your] children, it’s a cultural education, and it’s just a privilege to hear music and see dance of this quality,” Ms. Miller said.
“This is our second time watching it. And I remember the first time when we left, we were so mesmerized. And we were internalizing how beautiful it is. And the second time is even better.”
“I love it. I love how they tell stories without words. It’s stories through dancing, through emotion, through design. It really impresses me how it can tell stories without saying any words, just through dancing,” Mr. Habib said.
Shen Yun will be performing at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas, from Dec 28 through 30.
