CEO Consultant: ‘It takes your breath away’

“Go see it, it will open your eyes, it’s beautiful, it’s entertaining and it’s educational all at the same time,” he said.

Mr. Kaplan is an executive coach at Vistage International, a company operating in 16 countries which consults business owners and CEOs on how to improve their companies.

He attended the New York-based Shen Yun with friend Dr. Howard Harris at Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University on the afternoon of Saturday March 5.

“It’s all beautiful, it just kind of takes your breath away … I think it’s wonderful to bring this sort of thing to everybody because I love the cross-cultural [aspects],” Mr. Kaplan said.

“I think it is wonderful—the staging is outstanding, I am having a great time. I wish my wife was here to see it, she would love this too,” he added.

Dr. Howard Harris, a retired physician who practiced neonatal medicine and pediatrics, travelled to China in the mid-eighties to assist in improving the health of newborns in the country. He says Shen Yun fulfills its mission of preserving traditional Chinese culture, and could see the importance of preserving this lost culture from his travels to the country.

“It’s excellent, I think it’s a great idea, to remind people, especially young hopefully, to give them some idea of what China had to offer and what it was like,” he said.

“Some of the arts and other things that are gone in China are very unique. China had things long before the West did and I think it is very important for people to see,” he added.

Mr. Kaplan agreed that Shen Yun was successfully fulfilling its mission in reviving ancient Chinese art forms, which have been destroyed under decades of communist rule. He was awed by the way Shen Yun uses a combination of a digital moving backdrops and a full orchestra to accompany every dance, allowing the audience to be completely drawn into the legendary stories.

“The choreography is outstanding, these people are obviously very talented … I don’t even know how to describe it, it’s absolutely beautiful. I loved the photography and the background, when they kind of disappear and take off into the sky into the clouds, it’s very creative, it’s beautiful, just beautiful,” he said.

Mr. Kaplan appreciated the emcees in Shen Yun, who explain each dance in both English and Mandarin, to give context and understanding to the audience. The show features classical Chinese story-based dance as well as folk dances from China's many ethnic groups.

“I like hearing about it because it’s obviously new for us, so to understand what they are trying to do and what this is about really adds to it,” he said.

“It’s a huge country with the a lot of ethnic groups, most things that Americans don’t know about, so to be exposed to that is wonderful,” he added.

Dr. Harris said the show will remind Westerners about how different traditional Chinese culture is than the modernized culture we see there today.

“There was so many ethnic groups there, with all their own types of things that they do and represent … such a vast country, and I think that Americans now tend to think of China as a very modern place with cars, and fast trains and things, and forget what China used to look like. With 5,000 years of tradition, it’s been a long time,” he said.

Reporting by Valerie Avore and Justin Wheale.