BIRMINGHAM, UK—Myths and legends unfolded onstage at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, UK, on Friday, as the dance company Shen Yun Performing Arts strove to inspire a renaissance of ancient Chinese culture.
“Seeing everything, right from the Mongolian period right through the different dynasties and, of course, the Monkey King, it’s been fantastic,” Sukhraj Gill, an IT consultant from Birmingham, told The Epoch Times after watching the show.
Shen Yun is based in New York State. Its artists are mainly American-born Chinese or those who fled to America because of religious persecution under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Now entering 2026, Shen Yun is 20 years old, having formed in 2006.
Shen Yun Is ‘Telling a Story’
Also at the performance were Michael Peers, a diamond setter, who watched the performance with Sandra Haynes. Speaking of one of Shen Yun’s most spectacular scenes, when the curtains first rise with smoke billowing from clouds in heaven, Ms. Haynes described “something as I’ve never seen before.”
Along with the depiction of Chinese culture, Ms. Haynes said she enjoyed how the performance included pieces that spanned from ancient times to today.
‘I Love How Synchronized the Dancers Are’
The multi-sensory experience of Shen Yun—with its live orchestra, colorful costumed dancers, and high-tech animated backdrop—was like being “immersed in a different world” for one Polish woman who saw the performance and gave only her first name, Anna.“I love how synchronized the dancers are,” she said, adding that she’s a figure skater. “I [skate] in a synchronized team, and I know how hard it is to have the team synchronized so well.”
“I can appreciate more that side of the history because we experienced it—I did not personally, but my relatives did,” she said.
