SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘This Performance Was of Freeing of the Spirit’: Shen Yun Theatergoer

Jan 29, 2023
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‘This Performance Was of Freeing of the Spirit’: Shen Yun Theatergoer
Randy Shelley and Amy Wells at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts - Muriel Kauffman Theatre on Jan. 28, 2023. (Sherry Dong)

KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Bringing joy to someone is not an easy thing to do, but for Shen Yun Performing Arts, it is achieved every time they get on stage.

“I felt that this performance was of freeing of the spirit, of joy, of peace, of love. I thought it was beautiful. I love the facial expressions of the performers. They were smiling, they were happy, they were joyous,” said Randy Shelley, a business consultant, after seeing the evening performance of Shen Yun at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri, on Jan. 28.

This joy is something that each artist in Shen Yun feels when they able to share their passion and their truth with the audience—and this was something that Mr. Shelley felt.

“Yes, you can feel it flowing from them into the audience that they truly enjoy what they’re doing,” said Mr. Shelley.

Shen Yun Performing Arts is based in New York and its mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. To be precise, Shen Yun strives to present a China before communism to audiences around the world.

“A return to a former time, an ancient time, more so of the ancient belief in God or a Creator, instead of the atheism and the evolution,” described Mr. Shelley.

Shen Yun is welcomed across five continents, yet they cannot perform in China. Shen Yun uses dance and music to share the truth of present-day China.

“They had a message that was very strong to the Chinese government that that’s not the way of the people, and that they’re not going to succeed long-term if they continue down the path of money, greed, power, control, oppression,” said Mr. Shelley.

Shen Yun’s orchestra combines a classical Western orchestra and traditional Chinese instruments like the pipa and erhu. The erhu is highlighted further when it gets its moment under the spotlight.

“Absolutely beautiful. It’s amazing she can get so much music out of a two-stringed instrument. It was absolutely spectacular,” said Mr. Shelley.

The erhu has a history of 4,000 years and it’s considered one of the most important Chinese instruments.
I love the erhu. It’s a very elegant and expansive instrument. It has quite the range for only having two strings. So you can have so much expression in just a very simple instrument,” said Amy Wells, an instructor.
Shen Yun currently has eight companies touring around the world simultaneously.

“I love the production. It was extremely elegant. The costuming was very vibrant—professionally done. The music was outstanding,” said Mr. Shelley.

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Maria Han.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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