NEW YORK CITY—Theatergoers spoke of hope and feeling uplifted after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on March 25, the opening night of an 18-show run in New York City.
Based in upstate New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, currently celebrating its 20th anniversary with a tour that spans nearly 200 cities across five continents.
With a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and a tagline of “China before communism,” Shen Yun’s performance this year features dance pieces depicting legendary sages, the fashionable Qing Dynasty court, mythical battles, and even emperors in disguise.
Matthieu Giraud, a senior director at global pharmaceutical company CordenPharma, happened upon Shen Yun by chance on March 25, the same day as the opening performance, visiting from Switzerland on business.
“I didn’t know about the show before, so I just came [with] fresh eyes,” said Mr. Giraud, who found the portrayal of Chinese culture presented by Shen Yun a positive one that “gives you a lot of hope.”
In addition to being credited with the revival of classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun is famous for its patented stagecraft technology—a digital backdrop that has the effect of transporting audiences through time and space—and incorporates several unique production elements.
Mr. Giraud lauded the way the elements of the performance came together, from the orchestra performing original compositions blending Eastern and Western instruments, to the colorful couture costuming, to the emcees who introduced each piece.
He felt the artists themselves also imparted inspiration and encouragement due to their level of excellence as well as their demeanor.
“You see the level for all the dancers, what they can achieve. It’s unbelievable, unbelievable,” Mr. Giraud said. “We all try to be better and better, but when you see what they achieve here—it’s energy to even further improve.”
“You feel this energy” that gives viewers motivation for the future and a mindset to “be more positive,” he added.
“Geopolitics is very stressful these days, and when you come out of this show, you kind of forget everything. It’s something positive. The contrast is very significant, I think,” he said.
Mr. Giraud said he learned during the performance that although Shen Yun’s mission is to revive authentic Chinese culture, it can’t perform in China today under the communist regime.
“My hope will be that someday this show will be in China. That would be fantastic,” he said.
Since the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took power in 1949, it has enacted several violent campaigns to destroy traditional Chinese culture—burning books, razing temples, and destroying art and literary works. Being based in New York, Shen Yun enjoys artistic freedom and has taken on a mission to revive China’s 5,000 year-old traditional culture.
‘The Whole Thing Is Special’
Bestselling author James Lindsay said Shen Yun is an excellent production with an important message.
“The whole thing is special. It’s an amazing show, it’s an amazing story, to see China before communism depicted in dance … and then to see how the CCP has stepped in and caused a problem. And then, this message of resounding hope at the end that there’s change available,” Mr. Lindsay said.
As a practitioner of Chinese martial arts, Mr. Lindsay said he was already familiar with how the CCP “destroyed so much” and “ruined what was beautiful” about the ancient culture, and seeing Shen Yun bring it to life was “just a very inspiring story.”
“To see it portrayed so vividly and interactively was a very powerful, emotional experience,” he said. “This is a world-class production.”
Mr. Wu, originally from Hong Kong, said he has seen Shen Yun many times and sees in the performing arts company a hope for a “spiritual renewal” of Chinese culture.
“What they are aiming to do now is to bring about a restoration of that Chinese culture—China’s divinely inspired culture—the culture that rightfully belongs to China,” Mr. Wu said.
“Its greatness lies in its divine culture—in the fact that there are deities watching over and protecting you. Without divine protection, how could you possibly hope to prevail against the devil?”
He expressed immense gratitude to the artistic director of Shen Yun, who he felt had made a significant contribution to history.
“We have re-immersed ourselves in Chinese culture,” he said.
Brendan O’Connor, an oral surgeon, said his takeaway from the performance was “hope.”
“The people have endured an amazing history and survived their history, and enriched our history,” he said. “The message is, there is always hope. Always look for the good in everyone.”
Sherry Dong, Weiyong Zhu, Frank Liang, and Sally Sun contributed to this report.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
