Raquel Mitchell, the deputy director for Moms for America Action, said: “Amazing, amazing, beautiful performance. I'm blown away, blown away by the amount of technicality not just the dancing technicality, but the technicality of the production.”
Helen Koltick, the owner of Advanced Physics Technologies, attended Shen Yun with her husband, David Koltick. “It's very fascinating. Beautiful show, absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed it a lot,” she said.
Jeanne Ives, the CEO and co-founder of Break Through Ideas and former Illinois state representative, said, “I was just amazed at the costuming, the music, the artistic dance. Everything about the athleticism of the dancers. The show is a must-see for everybody.”
Mr. Koltick, a professor and director of the Applied Physics Laboratory at Purdue University, said: “They're so in unison, a common belief, a common physical interaction with each other. Very beautiful, and it's working. I think it's very well done.”
Lisa Sodeika, the founder and principal of L&K Contemporary Consulting, attended Shen Yun with her husband, Tom Sodeika. “It's absolutely enchanting. I'm sorry I missed the first 17. This is the 18th show. They're different every year, I believe. And the colors are beautiful. The dancing is so elegant, just charming. We love it,” she said.
“As a former violinist myself, I really, really appreciated hearing the live music all come together with a performance on the stage,” Ms. Ives said.
“The music is excellent. It's also live, performed live, which is wonderful. Live music is just such a gift to be shared with people,” said Mr. Sodeika, the founder and CEO of Freedom Square.
“I enjoyed, I guess it's a two-string harp which has so many different sounds, and listening to that was wonderful,” Mr. Koltick said.
“The music was amazing. The orchestra was so powerful. We really enjoyed the orchestra,” Mrs. Koltick said.
Through classical Chinese dance and storytelling, Shen Yun revives ancient traditions while courageously portraying the reality of religious persecution by the Chinese Communist Party in modern-day China.
“One of the things that surprised me, and I'm very proud of the production for doing, is facing what's happening in China head-on," Ms. Mitchell said. “It's beautiful to watch and but this also in the backdrop of this, is the oppression of communism happening in China and the oppression of the people who are there, and 1,000s of years of culture being washed away by Communism.”
“It's wonderful, it's immersive, and it makes me think back to China has a long history, 5,000 years. There's much that has been built in beauty and culture that I think due to the Communism, has been wiped out. So it's very good to have it represented and remind people of what it was like and what we need to return in all of our nations, all of our cultures,” Mr. Sodeika said.
“Disturbing, sad that a culture can be so destroyed by communism. It's again, disturbing, is what I can say, but powerful, and the message in the end was a positive note, which I appreciated,” Mrs. Koltick said.
Mrs. Sodeika stated: “The message of freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of all types of freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of point of view. And that's a beautiful message to see the gentleman in the park blessed and returning to dancing.”
“You gotta go see, you gotta go see Shen Yun, and it's wonderful. Performance, vibrant colors, great performances. Technicality out of this world. Just amazing,” Ms. Mitchell said. “It's you on a journey, and that is what you get when you go see this performance."
“There's something in there for everybody, and there's a lot of stories that are told that the youngest to the oldest can understand and appreciate,” Ms. Ives said.
Mrs. Sodeika said, “Bring your friends, bring your family, bring your children. I think there are a lot of important lessons to be learned and be entertained at the same time with beautiful, beautiful dancers.”
