SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

State Prosecutor: Shen Yun’s Chinese Dance ‘A Beautiful Form of Art’

Jan 10, 2026

1/10/2026Updated: 1/11/2026

WASHINGTON—George Underwood and Trisha Hudson were delighted to attend Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at the Trump Kennedy Center Opera House on Jan. 10. The couple thoroughly enjoyed their Shen Yun experience.

“[It’s] super. It’s been fantastic,” said Mr. Underwood, an attorney and state prosecutor in Virginia.

“I think it’s a beautiful form of art,” he said of the classical Chinese dance that Shen Yun performs.

Ms. Hudson, president of a marketing consulting firm, said that she loved the performance. “It’s beautiful. It’s thought-provoking,” she added.

She appreciated the dancers’ technical and dramatic skills—“the synchronization, but also the ability to tell a story through their dance.”

Mr. Underwood was impressed with the artistry and talent of the performers. “The technique that the artists are showing and the fact that there are so many dancers together, and they’re all in unison. It’s very, very well-choreographed,” Mr. Underwood said.

Shen Yun features a patented digital backdrop that interacts with the performers, who seem to jump in and out of heavenly and scenic landscapes. “I’m very impressed by the quality of the performance, both the digital [backdrop] and the live dancing and how they’re intermixed,” he said.

Ms. Hudson also appreciated Shen Yun’s mission of reviving 5,000 of traditional Chinese culture. “I think tradition’s really important. Every society, every religion has its traditions. I think that it’s important for us to appreciate everyone and to be able to experience other traditions and religions,” she said.

Mr. Underwood agreed with Ms. Hudson that “people should keep their beliefs and keep their traditions. I think this is a way for folks to keep that alive and for Chinese tradition to keep going.”

Persecution Exposed

With his background in law, Mr. Underwood said he is well aware of what is going on in China today. Under the current communist regime, Chinese people who refuse to give up their belief in the spiritual practice Falun Gong have been persecuted, including through state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting.

Shen Yun brings this story of persecution to the stage, and Mr. Underwood said the dance shared the message very well.

“For me, it was very effective,” he said. “I didn’t realize how much of an impact the performance would make on showing the suppression of the Chinese Communist Party to the people in China. I think it’s a nice way of sharing it. I actually follow this issue and have for many years.”

“I think traditional Chinese thought is lost,” Mr. Underwood added. “Anything after the communist revolution has been restricted, so people don’t have the freedom for their religious practice or the traditional practices that they would have in their daily life. So that is a concern.”

Many people around the world are not aware of the persecution because it’s covered up by the ruling communist regime as well as the media. Mr. Underwood said, “I’m familiar. I have friends who don’t know anything about it.”

“I think it’s important to spread this news, not just in America but across the world. I think it’s very important. This is a good venue to introduce people to traditional Chinese dance, traditional Chinese thought, and the persecution in China,” he said.

Ms. Hudson was not aware of the persecution and said it is important to bring awareness. “Oh, very much so, because I think that the average American and average international person is not aware of all that’s happening in China because of its [being] so closed. I think that it’s important for shows like this to show what is actually happening.”

Reporting by Frank Liang and Yvonne Marcotte.

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