Andrew Griffin, a journalist, said, “I feel it does it with humor and art and dance and these art forms that are really remarkable from the Chinese culture of many thousands of years. And it's all brought in one place, and it's easy to understand. It's fun, it's for all ages.
“I love the music. I love the orchestral elements of the performances,” he added.
Mike Plunkett, a company vice president of operations, said, “I'm a visual and an auditory person. The athletic ability of the dancers to me, just mesmerizing. And then the music is great.”
Donna Plunkett, a former teacher, said “I love the live aspect, the orchestra, and the dancers. It's amazing to me to watch it, and think about how it would be if I could do that.”
Mr. Griffin said, “I've seen it several times, and each time is like seeing it for the first time, because it just reminds you of just how important Chinese culture is and the traditions that China has had for thousands of years. And to also bring it home in modern day and show you what's been going on for the past 70-80 years in China, and how serious the problems are that they face, especially with [the CCP's persecution of] Falun Dafa.”
JoDee Shoffner, a musician, said, “What I saw in this performance, even though they showed the communism, they were showing that they were not upset with them, they were wanting to win them [over]. They were wanting to soften them.”
Mr. Griffin said he believes Shen Yun's message “is important in our world today. So much violence and division and evil activities are going on, and we can see this highlighted through Shen Yun in the performances and showing you what's been going on in China, and to the people who are just trying to practice traditional values and embrace things that are positive for humanity, and seeing that there are forces that want to bring that down. And so through Shen Yun, we get to see people persevering, as I said earlier in the face of all this evil and these dangerous things that are going on.”
“Their music was so full of heart and soul, and you could tell they loved their music, and it came across,” Ms. Shoffner said. “I saw the the parallels with the Chinese culture, that it had so many parallels, especially the compassion, the kindness, the love, and that we come from a heavenly country, and we're going back to a heavenly country, and we have characters to form here so that we can go to the heavenly country. I thought that was so beautiful.”
“Tonight was a story of redemption, it was a story of hope, that the good will prevail in the face of evil and darkness, that the light will defeat the darkness,” Brandon Case, a client services manager, said.
