SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Maine State Representative Says Shen Yun’s Message Vitally Important

Apr 19, 2026

4/19/2026Updated: 4/19/2026

PORTLAND, Maine—State Representative Chad Perkins drove two and a half hours from Dover-Foxcroft to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Merrill Auditorium on April 18.

His first time seeing the show, Mr. Perkins said, “It was well worth the trip. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long.”

“All the work that’s behind it, the artistry … the talent, it’s just amazing,” he added. “We were so glad we came … I bought my tickets back in January, and I’ve been waiting for it ever since.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales spanning 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture.

Along with classical Chinese dance, the company presents Chinese folk and ethnic dances. This year’s program features the ladies’ Manchurian ethnic dance, the men’s Mongolian ethnic dance, and the ethnic dance of the Bai people.

Mr. Perkins said he was impressed most with the “costume and the movements” of the “Ladies’ Manchurian Ethnic Dance,” which features the Qing dynasty’s elaborate headdresses and high heels, known as “flower-pot” shoes, according to Shen Yun.

China was once known as “The Land of the Divine,” and Shen Yun presents this culture by drawing upon the Middle Kingdom’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. In the past, artists looked to the divine for inspiration and cultivated virtue in order to create uplifting art. Today, Shen Yun’s artists follow in this noble tradition, which is why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun, the company’s website says.

Now celebrating their 20th anniversary, Shen Yun says their performances demonstrate “China before communism.” Thus, they are banned from performing in China.

“I’m a very strong uh believer in freedom,” Mr. Perkins said. “The Chinese people are amazing people, but they can do so much more if they could get rid of communism; it would be so much better.

“People, especially Americans, don’t see what goes on in the rest of the world. And for [Shen Yun] to highlight the fact that there was a culture before communism and it was suppressed, and it was erased … I think it’s amazing,” he said.

“It’s important that things like this exist [so] that people can be educated,” he said. “Seeing this, it brings hope, it really does.”

To convey the stark contrast between traditional Chinese values and the dangers of communism, Shen Yun presents a dance-drama that tells the story of the current persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China.

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a Buddha-school practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. In 1999, the Chinese communist party (CCP) launched a persecution campaign against the mediation, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse—including forced organ harvesting.

The contemporary story illustrates that through sustained or reawakened faith, hope, and kindness can be strengthened, allowing for the occurrence of divine miracles.

“[The CCP] understands that if this message gets out and people see just how dangerous the message of communism is, it would ruin their grip on power,” Mr. Perkins said. “So that’s why they try to suppress this, and that’s why I think it’s vitally important that this message keeps going out.”

“Younger people aren’t educated about the dangers of communism and how it’s designed to wipe out faith, it’s designed to wipe out spirituality, it’s designed to wipe out culture [and] tradition,” he added.

To Shen Yun’s artistic director, Mr. Perkins, thank him for “giving us this amazing performance.”

“Thank you for all the work that goes into it, thank you for your dedication,” he added.

And to the Shen Yun company, he thanked them for their courage to stand against communism and revive traditions.

“I know they face some persecution just performing in this show. I know that there are forces that reach out and try to affect them, and the amount of courage and dedication is amazing,” he said. “They should be very proud of that.”

“We'll come again,” he added. “It was awesome. It’s amazing.”

Reporting by Yeawen Hung and Jennifer Schneider.

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