Shen Yun Performing Arts packed the theater in Claremont, California with four performances from March 10 to 12.
“The show was just amazing. It’s always very magical. The special effects are just outstanding, said Stephen Gonzalez, a kinesiology professor.
Mr. Gonzalez has seen the show once before and he said, “The first time was good. This was even better.”
Graphic designer Jannica Porcu said she was “absolutely” delighted by the uniqueness of the show.
“I found it very refreshing to see something that was not from a Western perspective to be just transported into the East,” she said.
Phillip Cisneros, a pictorial artist for Disney, said the visual effects were something he is not used to seeing.
“It’s neat to watch the characters dive into the backdrops the way they do … the timing. I don’t understand how they have such perfect timing,” he said.
History professor Zachary Porcu thought Shen Yun helped him get away from routine life.
“I enjoyed it immensely,” he said.
“It excites your imagination to something that’s novel to something that shakes you out of sort of the malaise of the modern world.”
Shen Yun’s story-based performance takes audiences on a trip through China’s 5,000-year history—believed to be divinely inspired.
Some pieces highlight today’s China, illustrating how the government oppresses spiritual beliefs.
Mr. Porcu said that as a history professor, he thinks it’s important to understand other time periods.
“It’s so important to not only remember the past … but to bring it forward into the present,” he said.
Remembering a poignant piece in the performance about the persecution of religious beliefs, he said: “Chinese communism has done a lot of the same things that the Soviet Union and all these kinds of modern movements have done, because they are materialists. That means they don’t believe in the divine, they don’t believe in anything spiritual. And so what you see with all these materialist movements is an attempt to erase the past.”
He added, “Culturally, we are paying a spiritual price right now for our addiction to technology. It’s deadening, our imagination, it’s deadening, our sense of the divine.”
His wife, Jannica, appreciated how Shen Yun portrayed atheism and evolutionary theory.
“How could you possibly be elevated in spirit if you think that you’re not important, if you’re just an accident? That’s why you exist. And to have that all played out so beautifully on stage was very inspiring,” she said.
Shen Yun performs next at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California, on March 18 and 19.
“If you want to understand something completely outside of what you know now, go see Shen Yun,” Mrs. Porcu said.
“I’m looking forward to coming again next year,” said Mr. Gonzalez.
NTD News, Claremont, California
