“This is one of my favorite performances to attend,” she said of Shen Yun, which is showing this weekend at the KeyBank State Theatre at Playhouse Square.
“I felt emotionally touched by the performances that I’ve seen in years past as well as today,” she added. “It’s exciting every year!”
Aside from the performers—who she said are “exquisite” with “such discipline, such precision, such athletic excellence"—Ms. Smith loves the spiritual themes of Shen Yun.
According to the company’s website, the presented heroes embody the most exalted virtues of Chinese civilization and convey morals still relevant to the modern day.
“I love the spiritual part because it speaks the truth,” she said, “We all get distracted, our thoughts get distracted, we think about things that are not important, and if we’re not careful, we will follow the path that is evil rather than the path that is filled with love and that brings us to eternal life.”
“It was a courageous performance to speak the truth about God, to speak the truth about what’s happening in the world. And that takes a tremendous amount of fearless performing arts,” she said. “Shen Yun is fearless!”
Love Overcoming Evil
“Each part utilized things in a very effective way,” he said. “As a game developer, you’re creating an experience for the players and … with the dance, you’re creating a very pleasant experience through the dance.”
He was also very impressed with Shen Yun’s patented method of integrating a 3D animated backdrop with the stage performance and “how it synced with the dance by being able to have the dancers appear as if they’re coming in and out of the screen.”
Stirred by the scenes regarding the persecution, Mr. Simmons said, “I’ve already felt very deep compassion towards people in China … and seeing it happen—not only to Christians—but to [the Falun Dafa] was heartbreaking to hear about. I think there’s an importance in bringing awareness to these sorts of issues that are happening.”
He said that the compassion and forbearance conveyed by the Falun Dafa mediators in the final dance story was very inspirational.
Immersed in Ancient Culture
Tim Rose, a professor at Kent State University, and his wife, Dr. Kelly Rose, a researcher at Ohio State, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts for another year at the KeyBank State Theatre on Jan. 27.
“I love that Americans get to experience some degree of Chinese culture that isn’t first filtered through the Communist Party. And that’s one of the big reasons we come back,” Mr. Rose said.
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. As such, the performance often includes spiritually uplifting messages, according to the company’s website.
In regards to Shen Yun’s story-based dances, Mr. Rose said, “It’s such a great demonstration of how you can focus on a large number of everyday issues that matter to people because of the way the story can be told … you can tell so much with the mystical elements that come in with Chinese culture … and you definitely see that it’s still [a] middle kingdom-like feel of mysticism.”
Mrs. Rose was likewise thrilled about the principles and lessons depicted in Shen Yun’s dance pieces.
“I think this is fantastic, it is breathtaking, and it is so powerful,” she said.
“This is something that we should continually immerse ourselves in, and it is something that you always have an opportunity to learn and continue to add to the foundation of your learning.”
