DENVER—The 2023 Chinese Lunar New Year was this past weekend—And all eight companies from Shen Yun Performing Arts had performances at the same time, globally.
Audience members shared their impressions of the performance at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House (Denver Performing Arts Complex) in Denver, Colorado on Jan. 21.
“Mesmerizing, and absolutely eye-catching. You can’t take your eyes away from it,” said Gary Burton, who worked as a biology expert for the federal government at the Western Area Power Administration.
Steve Vorel, owner of SJV Enterprises, appreciated the revival of ancient heritage.
“I think it’s really lovely to see the art come back and the ancient cultures come back, and the appreciation and actually the blend of the audio-visual. Kind of makes it updated, but it’s still traditional, which I think is a nice blend,” Vorel said.
“It lived up to the expectations—Like I said, I was very excited,” said Michael Carabelli, account executive with Cogency Global Inc.
“Oftentimes, culture can be best represented through things like dance, music, and food. So, we got two of the three there. We loved it,” Carabelli said.
New York-based Shen Yun began in 2006, and its dancers use classical Chinese dance to show 5,000 years of Chinese culture.
“Every one of them—every single one of them is amazing. They’re all so precise, they’re all in sync, all the time. They each know what everybody else is doing, and it’s all just a unit that performs as a unit,” Burton said.
Carabelli said the performers are “truly masters of their craft.”
“I could tell that they were also enjoying themselves while they were doing it,” he said.
Vorel said, “I was a gymnast for many, many years, and the stuff they [Shen Yun performers] do is very impressive.”
The artists focus on expressing traditional Chinese values and culture, inspired by faith in the divine.
“It’s interesting for me to get some insight into the culture that I know very little about in China and to introduce into that some of the modern-day problems that still exist—was enlightening,” Burton said.
“I think that it’s important that some of the cornerstones that are a part of somebody’s faith is what truly helps them build character and become the people that they need to be, and ultimately, that’s what can help us all create a better society,” Carabelli said.
Shen Yun is returning to Denver, as well as Colorado Springs again in March.
NTD News, Denver
