WASHINGTON—Singer-songwriter Laura Reed said, “It takes a lot to impress me. I was very impressed,” when she and Anita Jelley, who owns a security company, saw Shen Yun Jan. 22 at the Kennedy Center Opera House.
Ms. Reed lives in Nashville, and is working with Grammy-winning producer Shannon Sanders, who also produces Pink, John Legend, and India Arie, according to her website. Sanders said of her, “Laura has a rare combination of gifts-musical and spiritual. “She reminds me that real music and real people still exist.”
As a musician, Ms. Reed was intrigued by the Shen Yun orchestra, which blends East and West. “I thought that was great. It was very smooth and it made you realize that so many parts of Western culture have been influenced by the East.”
Ms. Reed is a vocalist, born in South Africa, influenced by Sade, and said she found that “the sopranos were amazing. I was very impressed. Their voices were some of the best voices I think I’ve heard in a long time.”
The Shen Yun performance, with orchestral music, story, song, dance, costumes and color, was satisfying to her. “It was a very complete experience. “
Shen Yun represents “A 5,000 year history. It is amazing and very humbling,” said Ms. Reed. “It seems we got a little bit of everything. There was the singing, the music and the dance. The show was very complete. It was amazing. ”
According to the Shen Yun website “Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture.“
Ms. Reed said, “I would say that the Shen Yun show is a very complete view of Chinese performing arts. “
Ms. Jelley said she plans to make Shen Yun her annual tradition.
To her it “was wonderful and fantastic. I enjoyed every minute of it. I could see that it was very professional, very well done. All I can say, the show was great.”
Therefore, “I will definitely attend the show going forward, yearly.”
Ms. Jelley plans to “recommend the show to all my friends. I will make sure that they go and see a show like this if they have the opportunity.”
She continued, “As Laura said, the elegance, the history and the costumes were great. So I definitely will talk about it a lot.”
Reporting by NTD and Heide B. Malhotra
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. 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.
