NEW YORK–When the curtain opened on Shen Yun Performing Arts’ first dance, Descending to the World, Carole Lemke found herself in tears.
“I’ve always been moved by Chinese culture and music,” said Ms. Lemke, adding that she is a musician.
She saw New York-based Shen Yun at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York on the afternoon of April 28.
“I am so moved by the work, the creative work, and the industry of the artists who are ... Unbelievable,” said Ms. Lemke. “More power to everyone, they are beautiful.”
Classical Chinese dance is one of the ways Chinese culture has been passed down and retained, and refined over thousands of years. Shen Yun Performing Arts is dedicated to reviving China’s 5,000-year-old culture.
“It was glorious,” said Al Lemke, owner of MicroDesign LLC, an engineering company based in upstate New York.
“I loved the colors, I loved the bigness of the dances,” he said. “It was absolutely beautiful.”
Many Shen Yun artists are winners of international competitions in dance, choreography, and music. They come from China, as well as outside China, to New York to train for upcoming performances. Shen Yun has three equally-large companies that tour the world simultaneously each year.
“These are perfect people,” Mr. Lemke said. “When you see performers like this, they are, you know, made from a different fabric.”
“But then they practiced their whole life to be there. You know ... its wonderful,” added Mr. Lemke.
Shen Yun dances are accompanied by the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra, which includes a combination of both Western and Chinese instruments. Musical soloists are also part of the performance.
The Lemke’s both agreed that the erhu performance was great. “It is so deeply moving, in a way that other instruments can’t touch at all,” said Mr. Lemke. He said the couple actually own an erhu, the two-stringed instrument frequently known as a Chinese violin.
Reporting by Gary Du and Ananda West.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. The next performances in the northeastern United States are in Philadelphia May 3-5. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
