National Women’s Republican Club President: Shen Yun ‘Very delightful’

NEW YORK—National Women’s Republican Club president, Catherine Lenihan, took delight in the finest selection of what world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, Shen Yun Performing Arts had to offer.

A special collection of classical Chinese dances, songs, music, that the Shen Yun artists are renowned for, were chosen from the most popular performances over the past five seasons from across its three companies.

Mrs. Lenihan attended the world premiere, staged at the David H. Center, Lincoln Center, with her husband Tom on Sunday afternoon, June 26.

“Really enjoying it—very delightful,” the New York identity said.

China is on her to-do list, so she appreciated that Shen Yun artists portrayed ancient China’s 5,000 years, from its rich past to its tumultuous present. Many among them—dancers, singers, and musicians alike—carry distinctions of their own having won awards on both the national and international platform, according to the company website.

Based in New York, Shen Yun has the mission of reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture.

Unique to the company are exquisite hand-made costumes cleverly maneuvered to float gently like shimmering water bearing the form of classical Chinese dance. Or to reel like a top spinning at full speed with the bearing and form of ethnic dance.

Still in other dance sequences, the costumes move rhythmically with a distinctive beat the audience members find themselves tapping along to. Together with these ornate costumes and jeweled headresses that China’s dynasties, regions, and ethnic groups, the stage lights up in a blaze of color and action.

To top this off, the dancers are choreographed perfectly to blend with the digitally-enhanced projection that interacts between stage and screen, that Ms. Lenihan found a delight to watch.

And with Shen Yun Orchestra’s combination of Western and Chinese composition in support, and opera singers and solo musicians interspersed throughout the performance, the couple’s evening was thoroughly “enjoyable,” said Mr. Lenihan. “Very nice, very nice,” he concluded.

The NWRC was founded 90-years-ago in 1912, by 12 women gathered to revitalize the suffrage movement in New York State, the website reported

Seven years later, on Jan. 1, 1919, the state granted women the right to vote, three years before the 19th amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote throughout the country.

Today, the club boasts a formidable list of honorary members, including the wives of former US Presidents; George Bush, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and Vice President Dan Quayle.

Reporting by Wei Si and Raiatea Tahana-Reese.