ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Marianne Stephens, a hospital risk manager, and Nicole Parker, a client success manager, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater, on May 4.
“[I] absolutely enjoyed the performance,” Ms. Stephens said. “Beautiful costumes and the dancers are very talented. Completely enjoyable.”
“I also thought it was beautiful,” Ms. Parker agreed. “The performers, they really embodied their characters and I enjoyed the colorfulness. It was very fun to see that. It really brought out the life, and I’m really, really happy with everything we saw today.”
New York-based
Shen Yun Performing Arts has been the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company since its inception in 2006. Its performers come from all around the world, united in
their mission to revive traditional Chinese culture, and the beauty and goodness of China before communism. Shen Yun currently has eight equally sized companies that tour the world simultaneously, delighting audiences in over 200 cities across more than 20 countries and spanning five continents.
Ms. Stephens said that besides the dancing, she also enjoyed the songs performed in the traditional
bel canto style. Meanwhile, Ms. Parker said she enjoyed the traditional Chinese instruments in Shen Yun’s live
orchestra, such as the two-stringed erhu.
Shen Yun’s program also includes story-based dances, some of which are set in modern-day China and depict the steadfast perseverance of followers of faith who are persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party.
Ms. Parker said she saw freedom and beauty as two important themes, and Ms. Stephens said that “before communism, [Chinese] people were
free to worship the Creator, and nowadays, they are not allowed to worship that. They have to look to the state for their religion or so-called religion.”
“I couldn’t imagine having that ability to be so graceful and flexible and ... so flowing,” she said. “It must have taken absolute years to achieve that. I know it did ... I know only the elite few can make that level of being in the performance.”
Reporting by Yeawen Hung and Wandi Zhu.
![Connecticut Mayor: ‘People in China Need [Shen Yun] to Remind Them of Who They Are’](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.theepochtimes.com%2Fassets%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F05%2F11%2Fid5648198-1-1080x720.jpg&w=1200&q=75)
