SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun ‘Absolutely Beautiful,’ ‘Really Incredible,’ Says Real Estate President

May 10, 2025

5/10/2025Updated: 5/10/2025

PHILADELPHIA—Jenn Patrino, president of a real estate country, said she had studied Chinese history in college, and that led her to appreciate seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts even more.

“It’s really beautiful seeing this,” said Ms. Patrino, who attended the performance at the Miller Theater on May 10 with Brian O'Neill, a director in IT.

“It’s absolutely beautiful, the dancers are incredible, the costumes are beautiful,” Ms. Patrino said. “It’s really incredible. The music is beautiful.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, or “China before communism.”

Ms. Patrino said that while she was better versed in Chinese history, Mr. O'Neill was more updated on current events. Both found Shen Yun fascinating and felt it conveyed something positive.

“I was impressed by the dancers,” Mr. O'Neill said. “The story is wildly unique, I’m not familiar with it at all. I’m assuming that the Chinese people came down from the heavens and populated China. I wasn’t aware of that in the mythology of China,”

Shen Yun’s programs consist of more than a dozen vignettes, and this year began with a dance piece that told the Creation legend of China, wherein the Creator descended to earth with countless divine beings, establishing Chinese civilization. From there, the program spans thousands of years, with ethnic and folk dances showcasing China’s many peoples and regions, story-based dances, musical solos, and more.

Ms. Patrino said in one of the solos, the lyrics sung by a bel canto virtuoso surprised her.

“One of the things that I saw that surprised me in the song lyrics was that it talked about a strictness of narrow-mindedness, which hurts everyone, which I thought was a surprising message that I wasn’t expecting to see,” she said. “I think it’s a wonderful message in these times that we’re in right now, where everyone is worried, thinking their own way, and not open to other ideas. So, I thought that was really great.”

Mr. O'Neill said Shen Yun was “uniquely beautiful,” and Ms. Patrino said it was an experience she would recommend.

“Definitely something to take the time to see it,” Ms. Patrino said.

Reporting by Frank Liang and Catherine Yang.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.