SAN FRANCISCO—On Jan. 2, car dealership owner Wahid Khugiani experienced Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at the War Memorial Opera House and found the evening performance to be “absolutely amazing.”
“It was fantastic,” Mr. Khugiani. “It was very, very nice. We’re definitely going to be coming back. My daughter loved it, my kids loved it, my sons—they all loved it. It was great.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance and music company. It was established in 2006 by elite artists who fled China to escape persecution by the communist regime.
In addition to classical Chinese dance, the company presents short pieces featuring ethnic and folk dances, as well as story-based pieces that recount legends spanning from ancient times to the present day.
Mr. Khugiani especially enjoyed the story dance “You Reap What You Sow,” a fairy tale about an elderly couple who help a beggar boy when no one else will and receive an unexpected gift in return.
The artists shared “a lot of good values,” he said. “That was really striking. It was really nice. That story is telling us to take care of the people around us, the ones in need.”
Mr. Khugiani is very excited to tell his friends about Shen Yun. “When I told my friends I’m coming to watch this show … they’re waiting for me to tell them how I enjoyed it,” he said. “So, I’ll be telling them about it. … It’s just amazing. It’s magical.”
“All the young [performers] on stage, they were amazing,” he praised. “The dancers, the musicians—how they were playing all the instruments, were really, really amazing.”
