Minnesota Audience Fascinated and Mesmerized by Beauty of Shen Yun

Jeremy Sandberg
By Jeremy Sandberg
February 21, 2019St. Paul
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ST. PAUL, Minn.—Audience members were fascinated and mesmerized by the concerted efforts of Shen Yun Performing Arts on Feb. 15 at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minn.

The rich cultural history portrayed through the music and dance had a positive impact on those that shared their experience.

“Mesmerizing,” actor Joseph Facente said. “It was just so beautiful, and the short stories … just the way they put it all together, the costumes, with the backdrop and how realistic they took it from the projection into reality … it’s just amazing, amazing work.”

“I wasn’t sure how that was going to play out when they said it but they hit it, better than anybody else could, for sure,” he said.

“They were highly trained, and just the elements of ballet and to see what Chinese dance is about, and the tradition, and the history of China, it’s a magnificent project.”

Ambitious Mission

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive authentic divinely inspired traditional Chinese culture, a spiritual heritage the Chinese Communist Party has tried to destroy since 1949.

“I support it,” Facente said. “I think that’s important, I think culture and art need to be preserved and passed on to other generations, and that’s part of being an artist is willing to go to any length to express one’s self, no matter what the constrictions are.”

“A power greater than ourselves, that message.

“Faith, believing and doing something good … spiritual message. Awesome.”

Scott Keinitz at Shen Yun
Scott Keinitz, Manufacturing Manager at H.B. Fuller, after watching Shen Yun Performing Arts at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minn. on Feb. 15, 2019. (Shenghua Sung/NTD)

“I think it’s a really good mission,” Scott Kienitz, manufacturing manager at H.B. Fuller, said. “There’s a lot of Chinese culture that’s been lost over the centuries and the years, and a lot of it hasn’t made it out into the Western areas for us to observe, so I really like that they are trying to bring more of the culture back and keep it intact, and share it with the rest of the world.”

Land of the Divine

China was once known as “the land of the divine” and its culture was traditionally believed to have been imparted from heaven. The messages perceived by the audiences of Shen Yun often reflect this belief.

“I think there’s divinity within all of us. I think they’re a very real aspect of that, and I think they capture it well,” John Mitchell, loan administration manager at Wells Fargo, said. “It’s been beautiful to watch.”

“Fascinating,” Matthias Kittok, vice president of Superior Endeavors, said. “You never know what you’re going to see behind the next curtain.”

NTD News, St. Paul, Minnesota

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