‘Incredible’: Shen Yun a Hit With Theatergoers in Tampa

Feb 10, 2026Shen Yun

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—As a martial artist, Richard Rios knows something about the great warriors in Chinese Literature, such as the legendary Monkey King, Sun Wukong. But watching the monkey mystic superhero portrayed onstage by Shen Yun Performing Arts this Sunday afternoon was “different, in a refreshing way,” Mr. Rios said.

The New York-based Shen Yun, which specializes in classical Chinese dance, was clearly on the same wavelength as audience members in the Duke Energy Center for the Arts this evening. And on many levels.

Shen Yun “was incredible, it was more than I expected,” Mr. Rios told The Epoch Times after the show. “The style of dancing was very different, but different in an incredible way. I loved the stories!”

It is through an ancient style of dance called classical Chinese dance, which has similarities with martial arts, that Shen Yun revives the lore of ancient China. Its artists seek to create a renaissance for a culture that was “almost lost” under communism. Many traditions and religions were persecuted during China’s Cultural Revolution.

Mr. Rios, an accountant by day, pointed to the essence of the show, that is, the morals and spirit behind the stories, which Shen Yun somehow makes feel refreshingly alive again.

“I like the focus on goodness and kindness,” he said. “That’s something we need a lot more in this world—a lot more.”

Many of Shen Yun’s performers belong to the persecuted faith Falun Gong, which is banned in China. Some of them fled to America for freedom of belief. Based in upstate New York, the dance company now aims to shed light on this issue and share its message around the world.

On a deeper level, Mr. Rios even ventured to call Shen Yun “spiritual.” “But not religion-specific,” he said, “Spiritual, like our inner spirit.”

Spirituality is present in Shen Yun’s opening scene: the Chinese myth of creation, wherein the Creator calls upon a multitude of gods and goddesses to follow him down to Earth to play as actors in China’s 5,000-year-history. The segments follow the diverse dynasties and ethnicities through a grand procession—right to present-day China.

Some audience members, like John Dawson, who attended the same show, paid close attention to segments that alluded to chaos in modern China. Shen Yun openly portrays a young Falun Gong believerbeing abused by communist officials onstage.

John Dawson attends Shen Yun with his wife, Missy, and daughter, Cloe, at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Feb. 8. (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times) — John Dawson attends Shen Yun with his wife, Missy, and daughter, Cloe, at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Feb. 8. Lily Yu/The Epoch Times

“My beliefs may be a little bit different, but where they’re coming from, it’s positive, very uplifting,” Mr. Dawson, a fiber-optics installer who also happens to have studied kung fu, told The Epoch Times after the show. “What most people know of China overall is just communism—that’s all they know. But this shows the other side of it. This shows how communism tried to reshape what the world knows of China.”

Dawson attended Sunday’s performance with his wife, Missy, and his daughter, Cloe.

“Very beautiful,” said Cloe Dawson, a high-schooler who aspires to be an aesthetician. “It makes you happy to see so many people putting passion and effort into something so beautiful.”

Reporting by Lily Yu and Michael Wing.

From The Epoch Times

NTD is a media sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts, covering audience reactions since 2006.