AMNÉVILLE, France—Francis and Marie-Antoinette De Ribeiro attended Shen Yun Performing Arts with their son Stéphane De Ribeiro at the Galaxie Amnéville on Dec. 20. Mrs. De Ribeiro was especially eager to come.
Mr. Stéphane De Ribeiro was visiting his parents during the holiday and said, “This was part of my Christmas present because I know very well that my mother has wanted to see it for a long time.”
“It was all I talked about,” Mrs. De Ribeiro said. “And one day he calls me and says, ‘You’re going to have a surprise for Christmas.’”
Mr. Stéphane De Ribeiro said she guessed it.
“And I said to him, ‘Shen Yun,’” Mrs. De Ribeiro said. Shen Yun has been promoted on television, “and then people who have been to see it, who talk about it say it’s marvelous.”
Mr. Stéphane De Ribeiro said the performance was “actually very captivating.”
“The costumes are obviously magnificent. It’s very synchronized. ... It’s very captivating because you actually let yourself be carried away by the show as a whole,” he said.
Mr. Francis De Ribeiro especially enjoyed the erhu solo. “I really wanted to see it up close, to see what kind of instrument it was.”
He said he was also amazed at the dancers’ flexibility. “We saw that they were flexible. The flexibility—It’s good.”
“Really top-notch,” his son said.
Some stories enact scenes of today where the communist regime persecutes and suppresses people of faith. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture from before communism.
Mr. Stéphane De Ribeiro noted the spiritual aspects of the performance. “That surprised me a bit. I wasn’t expecting it. ... It was really very good,” he said.
“We didn’t expect it. There is a political message behind it, but it’s very interesting,” he said. “It is interesting to see that, even in China, there is this feeling of erasing culture, tradition, and especially religion.”
“If I have the opportunity to see it again, I wouldn’t hesitate,” he said.
“Neither would I. I wouldn’t hesitate,” Mr. Francis De Ribeiro agreed.
