McALLEN, Texas—Thomas Hopkins, a business services director, and Kimberly Hopkins, a school administrator, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the McAllen Performing Arts Center on March 2. It was the couple’s first time seeing Shen Yun, and they enjoyed the performance so much that Mrs. Hopkins vowed to return to the theatre to see it again.
“I loved it, it was phenomenal,” she said.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception in 2006, Shen Yun’s mission has been to revive traditional Chinese culture and showcase to audiences the beauty of “China before communism.”
The couple were struck by Shen Yun’s live orchestra, which features a unique combination of traditional Chinese and Western instruments.“I was amazed that it was real,” Mrs. Hopkins said. “It was live. It was here, and it wasn’t a recording.”
“I did love the way they used those effects,” Mr. Hopkins said. “It definitely enhanced it.”
In addition to dance vignettes, Shen Yun’s program also includes story-based dances that are adaptations of historical events and literary works. Mr. Hopkins enjoyed the stories, describing them as “short and to the point” and “easy to understand.”
Mrs. Hopkins described Shen Yun’s performance as “a way to escape daily ins and outs,” and “very therapeutic.”
