COSTA MESA, Calif.—A couple with a special love of culture and history praised Shen Yun at its Jan. 11 performance at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Mr. Alan Burns and his wife Cynthia Burns each spoke of the beauty and meaning they found in the performance.
Mrs. Burns is a docent at the celebrated 75-year-old Bowers Museum, which has hosted major international exhibits related to Asian arts and history. Being a docent means she has expertise and gives formal classroom presentations about the museum’s exhibits. She said at intermission that she was eagerly anticipating the Tang Dynasty dances, because she loves “the poetry in the Tang dynasty.”
Mrs. Burns said she was touched by what she saw and heard. “It is very moving, very moving. It goes to my soul, and the history of China, and you can see the history of China in the dance and the music.” The couple saw the Shen Yun New York Company, one of three touring companies.
She said “I love the show.”
The Bowers Museum was honored in 2011 by Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido and the City Council “for being one of the country’s most important mid-size museums, playing a very important role in Southern California and Orange County Arts, forging partnerships with some of the greatest museums in the world and enriching lives through the world’s finest arts and cultures,” according to an announcement on its website.
Mr. Burns is the city attorney for Fountain View, California. To him, the New York based artists presented an experience that was “Very spiritual, very flowing. The Chinese dance is very excellent; 5,000 years of Chinese culture is very wonderful and rich for us.”
He spoke of the youth of American culture compared to the long history of Chinese culture, and said, “We are a culture of only 250 years, so we have a lot of catching up to do.”
Mr. Burns said he especially enjoyed the variety and richness in the dance, and the “beauty of the women dancing; it is a nice mix the way it all flows together.”
Like his wife, he said, “I love it, wonderful.”
Reporting by Sound of Hope and Mary Silver.
Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will have one more performance in Costa Mesa and then in Los Angeles through Jan. 14.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
