SALT LAKE CITY—Shen Yun received 2 new proclamations this year in the state of Utah for bringing five millennia of Chinese heritage to Salt Lake City from March 19 to 23. The Bell family of nine was among the audience at the Eccles Theater.
He said they weren’t able to come because of the COVID pandemic.
“The anticipation to come and make it up here—it exceeded our expectations,” Mr. Bell said.
David Christopher, who used to do folk dancing and went on tour in Israel and Europe, thought Shen Yun was “fantastic.”
“They did such a great job,” said Mr. Christopher, who is also a director at the School of Natural Healing.
Colin McMillan, former chief creative officer of an entertainment company, enjoyed the combination of Eastern and Western style music from the performance.
Mr. McMillan particularly enjoyed the erhu, a two-stringed instrument.
“I loved that because it’s fun to have an instrument that could really—you could almost hear the emotion from the instrument itself,” Mr. McMillan said.
“Very professional. They timed it perfectly with the digital, at least from my vantage point, and I think they did an excellent job,” Mr. Hutnyak said.
“I thought it was just going to be dancing, but the story, and the music, and the performances and the orchestra—it was just mind-blowing,” Mrs. Connolly said.
Since 2006, the non-profit Shen Yun has been on a mission to showcase traditional culture that’s been systematically destroyed since the Chinese communist party took power.
“I was inspired by the resilience of the people that are in China, and the Falun Gong followers,” said 46-year-old Michelle Bell, who is a mother of 7 children.
“What stood out to me was that they had peace and hope in their hearts continually, and I want to have that in my life,” Mrs. Bell said.
Her husband said he also felt inspired and emotional.
“I felt moved, I cried, I laughed,” Mr. Bell said
“I wanted to be a better person after walking out,” he added.
Mrs. Connolly felt emotional as she related to the persecution as portrayed in the performance.
“I grew up in Venezuela. There was a lot of corruption there in the government, and it got very, very bad. The police were corrupt,” she said.
“The persecution is hard, I think, for everyone worldwide,” Mrs. Connolly said.
Shen Yun has grown from one to eight companies, showing classical Chinese dance and music through storytelling. Theatergoers appreciated the values brought to life on stage.
“The message of compassion and kindness is a beautiful one,” said Jared Moss, youth pastor and also son of Mrs. Connolly.
Mr. Bell said he felt “interconnected with every person in the world through this performance.”
And Mr. Christopherson was inspired as well.
“It was very nice. I’d recommend anybody to come see it. It’s really good,” he said.
