In the capital of Iowa, tickets to Shen Yun were sold out a month in advance at the Des Moines Civic Center.
David Shields and Lisa Noble, directors at Community NeuroRehab, attended the opening night performance on May 7.
“It’s very different, intriguing. Gives us [a] different perspective on humanity.”
“I just think it’s beautiful, the dancing, the history, there’s so much emotion behind each thing that everyone is doing, the dances, the movements, and… I feel like you can feel the emotion behind it,” said Noble.
“The difference between the ages,” said Shields. “You had the modern communist China versus 400 years ago, so you get this wide spectrum of different purview of Chinese culture.”
Shen Yun’s programs give audiences a glimpse of the past 5,000 years of Chinese culture, as its mission states.
“The beauty, the dignity within the culture, the depth and the passion you can see in each of the dances, everything is very meaningful, very purposeful in what they are doing,” said Noble.
“There is a moment in one of the last dances that when…it was all the girls and they were moving really really slowly, and it was amazing, it was incredible,” said Heidi Bibler, a local actress in Des Moines. “Because you can’t do that unless you are in tune with everyone and have that calm, calm inner self.”
“I think beauty is inspiring. And not just the outward beauty, but inner beauty of goodness to people,” said Amy Willis, owner of Herbs4You.
“I appreciate when arts can communicate something that’s grounded in something real and something that’s happening and also something that needs to be communicated to an audience and communicated to a larger group of people so that there is an awareness,” said Bibler.
“I think somebody would have to watch it to really be able to appreciate the beauty and the culture,” said Willis. “A performance worth watching. It will inspire and bless you.”
NTD News, Des Moines, Iowa
