PHOENIX, Ariz.—Sometimes, a single gesture communicates more than words can. For Shen Yun Performing Arts, every dance expresses the artists’ wish to showcase true, traditional Chinese
culture.
“I thought that the dance was very emotional, and you could see the performers were very emotional about what they were doing,” said Chris Allen, a nurse.
Ms. Allen elaborated that the emotion of Shen Yun artists came from their strong sense of spirituality.
“I thought it seemed very spiritual, and that’s what came out in their emotions. And I think that the spirituality was beautiful, and I also felt wisdom from it, you know, the stories that were told, and they were wise,” said Ms. Allen.
Shen Yun is based in New York, and although strives to present the beauty of Chinese culture to the world, Shen Yun is unable to perform in China.
“I’m shocked that they can’t perform that in China. That’s so sad,” said Ms. Allen.
“Because it’s their tradition. It’s their culture. It made me sad that they can’t do that in China. I felt very honored to come today, though. Very honored,” said Becky Brimhall, who works in healthcare.
Shen Yun’s
dance stories are a retelling of historically recorded events. For audiences unfamiliar with Chinese history, the
Masters of Ceremony give brief explanations of the storyline.
“I felt that the expression of the dance or the songs definitely went with the flow of the emcees before the performances started. You had a good idea what the theme was going to be, so it was very nice to put together,” said Ms. Brimhall.
One particular dance story depicted the violation of human rights happening in China today. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is forcefully taking the organs of prisoners of conscience and selling them for profit.
“It’s just so sad to see the dark side of China [with the CCP regime] still being so cruel to their culture,” said Ms. Brimhall.
Shen Yun puts on an all-new production every year, and since China has such a long history and such a deep culture, Shen Yun will never run out of material to bring to life.
“I definitely feel it’s worth coming to every year since it’s a new performance every year,” said Ms. Brimhall.
Reporting by Linda Jiang and Maria Han.
