San Francisco Patron Gives Shen Yun a 20 out of 10
Jan 09, 2023
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Gregory and Monique Barker saw Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at War Memorial Opera House, in San Francisco, on Jan. 8 (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times)
SAN FRANCISCO—Since 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts has been showcasing authentic Chinese culture to audiences around the world. Each season has welcomed audiences who finally decided to take the leap to see the fast-growing performing arts company. According to reviews, Shen Yun has delivered its best every time.
Gregory and Monique Barker are from St. Louis, Missouri, but they caught Shen Yun at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco.
“I’ve always wanted to come see Shen Yun and it did not disappoint me. Amazing dancers, graceful, very poised and the set was amazing. So we enjoyed ourselves. We definitely would come back,” said Mrs. Barker on Jan. 8.
“We heard a lot about it. On a scale of one to 10, it was probably a 20,” said Mr. Barker.
Shen Yun is based in New York and its dancers are trained in classical Chinese dance. This dance form stresses inner beauty that drives the body into motion to communicate the beauty to the audience.
“It was the best—the costumes, the dance and the flow. It was just like watching water and the flow was just superb. It really was just glorious. I would totally recommend this to anybody. Don’t miss it,” declared Mr. Barker.
Chinese history is 5,000 years old. When the Communist Party of China came into power, it destroyed Chinese culture and suppressed the freedom of the people. Shen Yun is dedicated to reviving this culture through beautiful dance and music.
“It had a lot of interesting dance and tradition that a lot of people may not be aware of,” said Mr. Barker.
“Why would you ever not want to promote the culture of China? It would be a shame for it to ever go away,” he added.
An Italian, Mr. Barker appreciates his own culture and he shared that after watching Shen Yun, “everybody would understand Chinese culture so much.”
Drew Brower at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at War Memorial Opera House on Jan. 8 (Sunny Chen/The Epoch Times)
Also in the audience was Drew Brower, a retired project manager for system implementations.
Mr. Brower shared his appreciation for Shen Yun'-s efforts in preserving tradition and culture.
“It’s absolutely critical to preserve the old ways because it gets lost too easily. Especially as the old ways tend to be hidden and rewritten through the years—it’s very difficult to preserve that,” said Mr. Brower.
One of the dances depicted a natural disaster occurring, and this struck a chord with Mr. Brower.
“It touched me in a very deep level. It reminds me again [of] the rebirth of the world in a way of what could be happening now,” commented Mr. Brower. “[The world] becomes renewed with a mountain full of water like it has in the past.”
Regarding Shen Yun’s performance, Mr. Brower said, “It was absolutely mind-blowing. It was so fantastic and so original and so touching.”
Reporting by Lily Yu, Sunny Chen, and Maria Han.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
