GRAZ, Austria—Each of the eight Shen Yun Performing Arts companies is returning home after a successful 2024 season. In Austria, the audience loved Shen Yun, and the audience showed its appreciation with thunderous applause.
“It’s incredible, very impressive, and unprecedented. The performance is really amazing from every angle,” said Sandra Krautwaschl, member of the Styrian state parliament in Austria and spokesperson for the Green Party.
She came to see Shen Yun on May 9 with her husband, Peter Rabensteiner, a city councilor in Gratwein-Straßengel.
“I like it very much. I’m really intoxicated. The difficult skills, the brilliant colors, the women’s performance on stage combined with the choreography, and the wonderful props are really intoxicating and beautiful,” said Mr. Rabensteiner.
“I would recommend it no matter what. In fact, I was completely conquered,” said Ms. Krautwaschl.
Dieter Hardt-Stremayr, CEO of Graz Tourism Bureau, was also in the audience on May 9.
“As soon as the curtain opened, I felt that Shen Yun fulfilled its promise 100 percent, which is very impressive,” said Mr. Hardt-Stremayr.
“The history of Chinese culture is much older than that of Central Europe. It can be traced back thousands of years. This is a long period of time. Chinese culture developed differently from ours, but although the customs are different, they are all connected,” expressed Mr. Hardt-Stremayr.
Chinese culture was once greatly respected, but after the Chinese Communist Party took power, history was distorted or destroyed.
“If we don’t know where we come from, it will be difficult to determine our future,” said Mr. Hardt-Stremayr.
Peball Gerolf, the founder and manager of a civil engineering company, came to see Shen Yun at Graz Opera on May 10.
Mr. Gerolf was particularly impressed with the dancers, who are trained in classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.
“Perfection was shown there. The control of the body was really unique. The fact that it is different from ballet is already evident in its name. [Shen Yun] means inner beauty, inner expression,” said Mr. Gerolf.
China was historically a place where people lived by important values such as loyalty, faithfulness, and honesty.
“I am also a person who lives by very high values. These values come from the people, come from culture, and we should take that with us. We have a lot of traditions, be it in China, be it here in Europe—we should hold on to them,” said Mr. Gerolf.
In Shen Yun’s dance stories, the good is always rewarded while the evil gets what it deserves. Mr. Gerolf enjoyed “the scenes where love came to those who simply did good things and not to those who had the money.”
He also shared that Shen Yun wasn’t exactly what he expected, but he was pleasantly surprised.
“It was an immersion in another world. It was impressive—it was beautiful. I was surprised by the values it presented. I was almost expecting something more superficial, and it wasn’t at all. It was very in-depth and very profound and very moving,” said Mr. Gerolf.
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