WASHINGTON—As a contemporary dance teacher, Jenn Howells is more than savvy in ballet, tap, and modern dance forms. But on Saturday, the classical Chinese dance company Shen Yun jumped, twirled, and seemed to fly onstage, reenacting thousand-year-old myths, leaving Howells in a state of wonderment.
She spoke to The Epoch Times in the Trump Kennedy Center Opera House after the show. “I see a lot of the parallels[between Shen Yun and] modern dance and ballet. But there is something that it has—it has a different feel to it, and I’m not actually sure what it is,“ Howells said. ”I’m actually still trying to put my finger on that.”
Howells was also impressed by Shen Yun’s patented animated backdrop effect. “I liked the interaction with the screen. I thought that was very unique,” she said.
She also thought the male dancers were very impressive. “I like how there’s a real male presence on the stage,” she said.
Howells said she learned during the performance that many of the tumbling moves from gymnastics are actually borrowed from classical Chinese dance and are thousands of years old.
Shen Yun, which is based in New York, has been showcasing classical Chinese dance on stages across the globe since 2006. It aims to promote cultural values that were suppressed under China’s communist regime, and to revive many of the deep aspects of this culture that were “almost lost” during the Chinese Communist Party’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s when much of China’s old culture was attacked and destroyed.
Antonio Espinal (R) enjoyed Shen Yun with family and friends at the Trump Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 17, 2026. Jenny Jing/The Epoch Times
Antonio Espinal, a conductor who saw the same performance on Saturday, loved the Shen Yun Orchestra, which blends ancient Chinese and Western instruments. “It’s a nice combination,” he said.
While the Shen Yun Orchestra showcases Western strings, winds, and percussion, it also includes Chinese instruments like the pipa, the erhu, and—yes indeed—the gong.
Espinal, who earned his master’s in conducting at Carnegie Mellon University and his doctorate at the Catholic University, said that India has musicians who have blended Eastern and Western instruments too, but it is “hard to do.”
He said that Shen Yun is “excellent—the orchestra is a prime orchestra.”
Reporting by Frank Liang, Jenny Jing, and Michael Wing.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
