ST. LOUIS—The Clintons loved Shen Yun Performing Arts. Brian Clinton, son of the local rags-to-riches legend, Jerry Clinton, attended the Peabody Opera House performance with his family on Feb. 16.
The New York-based company brought China—ancient China, that is—to St. Louis, as it presented 5,000 of divinely inspired culture and communicated it through classical Chinese dance.
“Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales,” according to the company’s website.
Jerry, who died in 2012, had been the owner of one of Anheuser busch’s largest wholesalers, Grey Eagle Distributors. He was also a Golden Gloves boxing champion.
“We sent our mother [to the performance] last year for a holiday Christmas gift. We gave her tickets, and she raved about it, and it was certainly on our radar because of that. And we saw commercials on TV,” Mr. Clinton said.
And Megan Clinton explained that they had seen a billboard this year as well as seen friends who’d lived in Shanghai and just returned. “So there is a new interest in Chinese culture, for sure, for us,” she said.
Ms. Clinton, an interior designer, enjoyed the visual aspects of the performance with its hundreds of handmade costumes and its digitally animated backdrops.
“With state-of-the-art graphics technology, Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one,” Shen Yun’s website states.
Mr. Clinton, who works in investments, liked the stories that the backdrops helped set: “The stories were all so interesting. The dragon that lived in the sea, and the frog, those were really cool,” he said.
The children really liked the imagery and the music, Mrs. Clinton said, adding that the musical interpretation was beautiful.
Shen Yun tours with a live orchestra which combines the beauty and distinctiveness of Chinese sounds with the power and precision of a Western orchestra.
Each of the 20 or so music and dance pieces is introduced by bilingual emcees who give background to the dances.
“I loved the sense of humor too, of the narrators throughout the performance,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It was good to have a sense of humor about it.”
Mrs. Clinton laughed thinking that now that she had seen Shen Yun, all she’ll “want to do is go over and visit, so he'll probably be upset about that!”
Reporting by Catherine Wen and Sharon Kilarski
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
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.
