‘Really Very Creative’: Shen Yun’s Classical Chinese Dancers Connect East With West in Austin
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Mike Guevara attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at Dell Hall at The Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 3, 2026. Sonia Wu/The Epoch Times
AUSTIN, Texas—On Saturday afternoon, the talented performers of Shen Yun Performing Arts, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, entertained Austin locals who were pleasantly surprised to find amazingly little disconnect between the cultural values of the East and West.
The New York-based dance company is bringing to stages around the world in 2026 the culture from 5,000 years of “China before communism.” While portraying the Monkey King, an ancient Chinese superhero, as well as Guan Yin Bodhisattva and the Buddha himself, who both have multi-millennia histories, Austin theatergoers were kept spellbound by New York-based Shen Yun’s performers.
“It was just really, really very creative. I enjoyed it very much,” Mike Guevara, an attorney, told The Epoch Times, speaking of the scenes of flying mythical beasts during the show.
Guevara said the ancient spirituality depicted in Shen Yun somehow felt “very, very similar” to his own Western belief system based on the Christian faith. And perhaps, he added, the so-called disconnect he once felt as a boy when seeing Chinese cultural shows was actually communism being presented as Chinese culture.
“At my age, communism has been in China since I was born. And so you don’t think of this [Shen Yun] when you think of China,“ he said. ”You think of a Mao Zedong, and the marching down the street, and Tiananmen Square.”
Stefan Sequeira and his wife, Amanda Sequeira, attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at Dell Hall at The Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 3, 2026. Sonia Wu/The Epoch Times
Stefan Sequeira, a data analyst, was interested in the piece in which the Creator descends to Earth, surrounded by divine beings whom he then leads to play key roles in China’s various dynasties and ethnic cultures.
“It reminded me a little bit of the Christian creation story where God created man and woman in his image on Earth,” he said, noting his Christian faith. “I'd be interested to learn more about [Shen Yun’s version].”
Faith is one of the big reasons Shen Yun is based in New York and not China. Shen Yun hosts explain that many of its performers are Falun Gong believers who fled to America to escape religious persecution in China. Scenes of religious persecution are even portrayed onstage during the performance.
“I have heard about the kidnapping of Falun Gong practitioners and the organ harvesting by the communist regime,” Mr. Sequeira said, calling the atrocities “horrible.” Then he added: “It makes sense that an atheistic regime that oppresses its people and tramples on human rights would do that.”
This new year, 2026, marks Shen Yun’s 20th year on tour, bringing a culture that “was almost lost” under communism to theaters in Texas and far beyond.
Reporting by Sonia Wu, Nancy Ma, and Michael Wing.
