Shen Yun Artists ‘Are Phenomenal,’ Says Portland Audience Member

NTD Newsroom
Shen Yun
Shen Yun Performing Arts successfully concluded its performance at the Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine, on April 1. Audience members were captivated by the company’s artistry and had high praise for the performers.

“I like the fact that you had a sense of humor in the production. The dancers are phenomenal, the singers are great. I learned so much from the performance, and as I was looking around at the audience, they were just totally captivated, totally into it, like we were,” David Dell Matteson, a former art teacher, said.

“I thought the movements of the dancers were so well choreographed with the sounds from the orchestra. It was phenomenal.”

Vanessa Tripp, a receiving manager, said, “It was beautiful, stunning. I loved the dancing. I believe it was the lotus petal, the sleeves; that dance was absolutely stunning. And I would love to come back and see it again.”

“The performances were great. The music was fantastic. All the colors on stage are really well done,” said Tanner Matteson, a video editor.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of divinely-inspired Chinese culture that was almost lost when communism took power in the country in 1949. Shen Yun began touring in 2006 and now has eight companies touring the world simultaneously, bringing an all new production every season.

“I would say, keep on telling your story. We're a world of many different stories, and to be silenced is not applicable. Tell your story the way you feel appropriate, whether it's in words, whether it's in testimony, whether it's written or in dance,” said Rep. Marshall Archer, the Maine House of Representatives of District 129.

“I love seeing them play out with the heavens and sort of the idea that we're here on earth having a spiritual experience, and there are forces bigger than us that we'll never really know, and they are present in our day-to-day life. And so it's nice to see how they play, that it's present in their scene-to-scene dance, that it's connected to the heavens. It's quite beautiful,” said Christina Martin, a screenwriter.

“It's a lot of tradition. It's really trying to celebrate being human, struggling through all the different scenarios that kind of meld a mythical historical past with the present. And I think that they did a wonderful job portraying that,” said Tom McOsker, an entrepreneur.

“They're phenomenal, they're dedicated. They really believe in what they're doing and what they're telling and that's very important,” Mr. Matteson said.

Shen Yun will be performing at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts in Northridge, California, on April 8 and April 9.
NTD News, Portland, Maine

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