COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Shen Yun Performing Arts performed in Colorado Springs from March 17 to 19 at the Pikes Peak Center. Patrons with military backgrounds shared their experiences with the live orchestra of blended Eastern and Western instruments.
“The costumes were absolutely amazing. I think that and the orchestra were two of my favorite things today. That was one of the things that I was really blown away with—was how beautiful everything was,” said Lindsay Andrew, director of operations and pilot with the U.S. Air Force.
Brian Sokolik, a retired commanding officer and aviator with the U.S. Navy, was also in attendance.
“It was great! It was really good. My wife and I are opera fans and we go to the opera a lot, and we hear lots of the orchestras. But this was unique because of the Chinese instruments as well as the normal instruments that we consider normal,” Mr. Sokolik said.
Through classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun portrays China’s ancient spiritual heritage—but the company cannot perform in China due to the Chinese regime’s persecution of freedom of belief.
“Not gonna lie, [a] big guy like me, retired military, and yeah, I teared up a little bit on the current events [and] when the daughter was killed in prison. That kind of, that did make me shed a little bit of tears,” said Patrick Peake, institutional training instructor at Quantum Research International.
“Overall great performance. I love that—brought my kids here to get them a little bit of cultural enrichment, and we’re glad we came. Thank you,” Mr. Peake said.
Mrs. Andrew enjoyed learning about the history and background tied to the modern day.
“It’s a very unique perspective, and I’m really glad that it’s coming here and maybe it’ll be eye-opening for a lot of people,” Mrs. Andrew said.
The New York-based Shen Yun was established in 2006, and now has 8 different companies that tour the world simultaneously.
“It was wonderful. I think there’s a lot of faith and divinity throughout the world and that showed in this performance tonight,” said Tait Warren, Army veteran and former director of retail sales with DriveTime.
“Faithfulness, you know, be hopeful, bravery, fortitude—those are really good messages and I think more of the world needs to hear that type of message,” Mr. Peake said.
“It was worth waiting 4 years through covid to see this,” Mr. Sokolik said.
NTD News, Colorado Springs, Colorado
