PHILADELPHIA, Penn.—Shen Yun Performing Arts performed at the Merriam theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from February 8 to March 3. With almost every performance being sold out, the performance left a lasting impression on the audience.
“It was really a once in a lifetime experience,” said Randy Coneby, Principal at RKL Risk Management. “We’ve been to the theater before, many times. We love the theater but this is… it incorporates so much more. So, we just really enjoyed it with the live orchestra. I really love the orchestra, I like string music.
“And to have the dancing, and to have theater, and have the acrobatics, it was just a little of everything, it really did. The costumes, I really enjoyed that, it’s so colorful, it’s very enjoyable.”
“It’s very uplifting, that was the other thing that I noticed about it,” said Coneby. “I really like the positive message.”
Reviving Culture
According to Shen Yun’s website, the company’s mission is to use the performing arts to revive China’s divinely inspired traditional culture, which the Chinese communist regime has tried to destroy.
“It seems like this is probably one of the few places that you would see that,” said Coneby. “Like they had mentioned and I had read about, China doesn’t allow a true message to come through. So this is one way that you can hear that and I think that brings out also learning about China’s history, which I appreciate.”
“I feel it really is a blessing to see the performers come and perform and I think they did a great job,” said Coneby.
Leigh Ann Von Hoelle, Marketing Specialist at a large company shared in the enthusiasm.
“It gives you goosebumps, it’s great,” said Von Hoelle.
“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “It’s sad that they can’t actually do it in China because it’s a beautiful show.”
Amanda Martin, Regional Vice President of Primerica, spoke about the importance of reviving traditional culture.
“I think that every culture should revive what they’re doing, and that they’re doing it to surpass all the different controversies that they’re having in their homeland of China,” said Martin. “That’s a really big deal and probably a very emotional experience for everybody involved.”
“As a dancer myself, I was never as amazing as they were, but it actually gives me such a feeling of hope and just the imagination—sitting there feeling like I’m actually in the story with them,” said Martin.
“They’re top-notch… Just divine themselves, actually.”
Divine Inspiration
Shen Yun can be translated as “The Beauty of Divine Beings Dancing.” The company’s website says its performers look to the divine for inspiration, striving to uplift themselves and others through their art form.
“That was really unique,” said Martin. “I was taken back to Christianity through that, and I thought, well, that’s just such a great thing to see how alike we are, and that we’re all searching for something bigger than us that is concerned with us. So that connection with our creator and being here on earth we feel so small, and to know that there’s some other worldly concern for us, [is such] a human experience.”
“I loved it,” she said. “I think that if we don’t have a connection to something greater than us then we’re completely lost. Whatever that is, I think that binds us together and allows us to really love and connect to people more.”
Martin expressed the profound impact of the performance.
“I think this is the kind of experience that could be a lasting memory in somebody’s life,” said Martin. “And so, when they get here and they watch this, they should fully let themselves see it and release to that memory, and so it marks into their their psyche and I think it’ll be a really important thing for everybody to see 15-20 years from now how far this movement has really come.”
“It was incredible,” said Larry Henigan, Executive at W.L. Gore & Associates. “The dance, the choreography, the clothing, the colors and the stories that were behind what we were watching.”
Walter Runge, a professional musician and composer, throughly enjoyed the production.
“You watch these guys perform, and it’s hard to single out any one performer as really brilliant,” said Runge. “They’re all amazing.”
NTD News, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
