SPARTANBURG, S.C.—Mark Mangolas, global growth, strategy, and innovation account manager at Rubrik, Inc,. and his wife Kathi Mangolas were in awe of the impressive talent and beauty of Shen Yun Performing Arts at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium on March 25.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be this enjoyable, but it was really enjoyable,” Mr. Mangolas said. “So much talent, really good!”
Impressed by the fluidity of Shen Yun’s dancers, Mr. Mangolas said the performers were so perfect they appeared beyond what could be real.
“That fluid-kind of artistic motion … usually, you can’t see live” he said, “It’s usually something you see that’s maybe doctored … with some computer imaging or with some cinematography. But seeing it live, it’s very impressive!”
Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with folk dances and solo performances, the production depicts story-based pieces that tell tales from ancient times in China to the modern-day.
Since 2006, Shen Yun has performed at top theatres worldwide with a mission to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture. Drawing upon ancient China’s Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian philosophies, Shen Yun says its performances bring to its audiences “China before communism.”
Reflecting on the story depicting the persecution of Falun Dafa—a meditation practice based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance—by the Chinese communist party, Mr. Mangolas said, “In this country now, we need it more than ever.”
“Watching someone go through a communist regime and what it was before and perhaps where some things are headed … it touches home for me quite a bit,” he said. “It’s good, really inspiring.”
“We need to get either back to where the traditional values were or move them forward,” he added.
This was the first time the couple had seen Shen Yun and Mr. Mangolas said it would not be their last.
“One of the most talented group of people I’ve seen,” he said. “We'll be back!”
Reporting by Yawen Hung and Jennifer Schneider.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
