STAMFORD, Conn.—A large part of the magic of theater is that it opens our hearts and minds in ways we can’t anticipate. This was the case for one couple who attended Shen Yun Performing Arts and came away from the experience with new realizations, and the feeling that what they had just seen was “from heaven.” 

Connor Antico and Jenny Shepardson attended Shen Yun together at The Palace Theatre, in Stamford, Conn., on April 2.

Shepardson said she'd heard about the performing arts company for years “and always wanted to go,” so she bought the tickets for her and her boyfriend. 

“I would describe this as absolutely beautiful,” Shepardson said, about the night’s performance as a whole.

Shepardson, a television producer out of New York, said she was “so excited to finally be able to see this.” The pair beamed as they recounted how touched they felt watching and listening to the show, and what they learned from Shen Yun that surprised them. 

Shen Yun presents traditional stories, and ones set in the modern-day, that depict beauty and goodness using classical Chinese dance. Each of Shen Yun’s seven companies tours the world with a full, live orchestra. In each performance, audience members are treated with a view of what China was like before communism systematically did away with the nation’s rich and colorful traditions. 

Shepardson gave the dancers a special nod when she described what she saw from them: “beauty, storytelling, talent, of course, and hard, hard work. I mean, to be able to be in that sync with one another, all of them dancing, and telling a story while you’re dancing. It’s more than just moves.”

Previously a cheerleader and gymnast in high school, Shepardson said she was surprised to learn that the tumbling techniques in those sports actually originated with classical Chinese dance. 

“I didn’t know that the flips and everything originated in China. That’s what I just heard. And there’s just so much that’s like, whoa, we didn’t know this.”

Antico, an actor, gave the Shen Yun performers high marks from a professional point of view. “Everyone was well prepared on stage.” But the dancers’ ability to take their art to another level really moved him. “I couldn’t tell you how, how taken I was by how they can really just float. They just float.”

“I’m really glad my girlfriend bought the tickets,” Antico said. “It’s like it’s from heaven in a way. It really touched me.” 

He said the storytelling aspect of the show’s two dozen short pieces touched his heart in a way that’s hard to explain. 

“While the show was going on, I was thinking one thing, not really directly correlated with the show, but it connected when I was watching it. I don’t know what it was, but it was special. 

“The stories, they played out well … But it’s very, it’s like you can make your own interpretation. This story connected in multiple ways. Because it’s basically like a proverb. It’s a story, and anybody can connect to that.” 

Can’t Be Seen In China Today

Shepardson was stunned to learn that Shen Yun is not allowed to tour in China, due to censorship by communist leaders.

“When I heard that you can’t show this [in China], I was—I didn’t believe it for a second. And I said to my boyfriend … ‘Why wouldn’t you be able to?’ And then I found out that a lot is censored. And I didn’t know that … that’s just crazy … I had no idea.” 

Shen Yun’s performers adhere to an ancient type of meditation and moral practice known as Falun Dafa, which centers around truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. This, too, is not allowed to be exercised in China today, even though its roots lie there. 

“So something beautiful is banned in China like this,” Shepardson remarked about Falun Dafa. “I don’t know. I mean, that’s crazy to me. That really is.”

Shepardson said she believes people in North America need to know more about the sad reality of repression in China today.

Music, Color, and Spirituality

“What inspired me the most is the fact that … it’s more than just the dancing,” Shepardson said who, like Antico, was moved by Shen Yun’s legends, myths, and narratives. But that’s not all. 

“They’re sharing a story. And, the colors, the music. It’s a live orchestra.” 

Shen Yun’s orchestra is composed of Eastern and Western instruments that are arranged with a musical harmony and balance that’s unique in the world. 

“I didn’t know it was a live orchestra, I said to my boyfriend because we thought it was, you know, just music playing. But it was a live orchestra. And we’re like, ‘What? All this together? It’s a lot! It’s beautiful.”

Antico chimed in and described how he felt when he first came into the theater. 

“I was just like, taken by this beautiful music, by the orchestra. And then we’re both just smiling. It just touches you. It’s good. It’s great.”

With the help of a bevy of musicians, themselves practitioners of a spiritual tradition, many of Shen Yun’s pieces depict China’s long history of belief in heaven. 

Shepardson appreciated this aspect of the show.

“Oh, the spirituality was beautiful,” she said. “We definitely need that nowadays because the world’s a little crazy right now. So, I think it’s like a nice relaxation to watch that and just take a breath, but also, you’re learning something so big about China. And I mean, I still can’t get over that you can’t show this there. I can’t.”

“And the colors I mean—what I have to say about this generation at least is that we’re easily bored. But this [Shen Yun] you can’t get bored by because there’s all the colors, there’s always action going on, the flips, you’re like, whoa, what? There’s a lot!”