Fashion Designer: Shen Yun Is ‘So peaceful and so relaxing’

NEW YORK—Peruvian fashion designer Franco Noriega found inspiration in Shen Yun Performing Arts’ opening performance of its world tour highlights at the Lincoln Center’s David Koch this Thursday evening.

“The show is so peaceful and so relaxing, and yet so full of life. It’s very, very nice,” said Noriega. “You see the dances and the women, it’s so smooth and soft and the music … .”

It was probably the Nymphs of the Sea that, just as the New York Company’s program suggests, with "their playful, flowing forms soothe the soul."

Accompanied by guest, Estella, who had encouraged him to see the show, Noriega was impressed at being able to grasp the meaning behind the dances and the overall performance, despite knowing little about Chinese culture beforehand.

"You just see it and that’s the feeling I got—that transferred me a lot of peace," he explained.

The young designer was particularly impressed by the ancient culture and traditions of China that Shen Yun portrays. “It’s amazing, I really like it,” he said.

Noriega appreciated being able to experience another culture in a major metropolitan hub like New York because it’s “where I can go to check out something that’s so foreign to us, but still so near.”

Reporting by Sherry Dong and Kristina Skorbach.