SAN ANTONIO, Texas—After an entire decade of hoping to see Shen Yun Performing Arts, Reina Mujahed, a small business owner, and Michael Brandes, a network engineer, finally got to see the global sensation at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 18.
“They’re awesome,” Ms. Mujahed said. “The dance is really good.”
“It’s amazing,” Mr. Brandes said. “It’s everything that we’ve hoped it was going to be.”
New York-based Shen Yun was founded by leading Chinese artists in 2006. Through authentic classical Chinese dance and music, Shen Yun aims to revive traditional Chinese culture and showcase the beauty and goodness of “China before communism.”
Mr. Brandes was grateful for the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture.
“Anytime you get a chance to see another country’s culture, you should always take the advantage of getting to see it,” he said. “This is probably one of the most amazing shows that I’ve ever seen.”
“When I go back, I’m going to tell them that it’s great,” she said. “The dances are very good, as I expected, and it’s very entertaining.”
‘Totally Blown Away’
“What I enjoy the most is the backdrop and all of the different costumes and the color that it (Shen Yun) presents,” Mr. Samudio said. “The dancing is just fabulous, totally fabulous.”
It is worth mentioning that Shen Yun’s patented animated backdrop, which allows performers to move seamlessly between the stage and the background, has been popular among audiences ever since Shen Yun’s inception.
“It just blew me away,” Mr. Samudio said of the erhu solo. “What I find is that it’s comforting, it’s relaxing. I enjoy it … I think it’s just a fascinating opportunity to learn a different culture.”
Mr. Samudio also shared that he enjoyed “watching the dancing and the choreography and the abilities of all [the] dancers.” Shen Yun’s name means “the beauty of divine beings dancing,” which Mr. Samudio felt was fitting.
“It’s just totally … divine, it’s very relaxing, and I … was just totally blown away,” he said.
