NEW YORK—Shen Yun Performing Arts took the stage at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch theater on Friday evening to a sold out crowd.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Don Paston, managing director and treasurer of Assured Guaranty Corp. of New Jersey. “The dancing was very good; the singing is excellent.”
Classical Chinese dance—an ancient art form considered both one of the most comprehensive and difficult to master—is at the heart of Shen Yun performances, says its website, alongside ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance. A digital backdrop, award-winning vocalists, handcrafted costumes spanning across legends, dynasties, and time, and an orchestra that melds Western classical instruments with distinct Chinese instruments enhance the performance.
“It’s beautiful,” said Farida Paston, a stay-at-home mom formerly of the financial industry. “It’s really relaxing, and obviously it’s a world class show.”
The Pastons noticed the message of freedom displayed in the performance. Shen Yun draws upon China’s 5,000 years of culture, including human rights stories depicting the persecution of Falun Gong, an ancient mind-body practice that is still persecuted in China today.
“The freedoms that we have here, everybody doesn’t have [them],” Mr. Paston said.
Shen Yun, based in New York, was founded in 2006 and has three equally large dance companies and orchestras traveling across the world, explains its website.
Unfortunately, over the past 60 years, this cultural treasure has been persecuted and co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party. It is outside of China that Shen Yun’s artistic creators have the ability to freely express themselves and their ancient culture. Their courage to speak up is an integral part of Shen Yun’s spirit, notes the New York-based company’s website.
“It was interesting to see the cultural aspects of it, and the history,” Mr. Paston said.
Mrs. Paston was intrigued by how the artists of Shen Yun hail from all over the world, and noted the “different perspective on the life and culture.”
“I think that it was important to them to send a message to the world,” she said. “Whoever is seeing it here, that this is how it is in China, maybe they don’t have an option about a lot of things.”
Reporting by Pamela Tsai and Zack Stieber.
New York-based Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will perform at New York’s Lincoln Center through Jan. 15.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
