A premium dance and music company, Shen Yun, tours around the world, reaching over 150 cities across three continents with eight tour groups, showcasing the essence of 5,000 years of one of the earliest ancient civilizations in the world. The original compositions exclusively created for the show feature the perfect harmony of East and West, resulting in a beautiful, peaceful, and soothing sound. With Chinese instruments as their permanent members, the live orchestra is uplifting and brings positive energy.
Washingtonians saw Shen Yun 2023 this January. The fascinating part of Shen Yun was the digitally animated backdrop that served as magical windows that infinitely extended and transformed the stage. It transported the audience back to ancient times and faraway lands.
The show started with a deity, the Creator, riding a white horse and running directly toward the audience. It consisted of Chinese dance stories and some ethnic dances. The dancers were talented and skilled, their dresses colorful and gorgeous, their movements elegant, and their smiles contagious.
Audience members watched dancers, with hand-made headpieces and gorgeous costumes, with distinctive and challenging techniques of classical Chinese dance, jumping and leaping, turning, and flipping.
The monkey king, the main character of Journey to the West, had the magical power to turn himself into different things and turned his golden stick into a gigantic pillar or a tiny needle.
The show's second half started with a group of heavenly beauties flying in the sky before suddenly appearing on stage, peeking out from the on-stage clouds with their orange dresses shining with scarfs as thin and light as a rainbow.
An Erhu soloist dressed in Chinese Qipao, with her two-string instrument resting on her left leg, was terrific. The audience found the music distinct and uniquely captivating.
Left in awe, some audience members were moved to tears, feeling the passion behind every performance. Some said songs bear deep, inspiring inner meanings.
A Korean costume designer, her Hanbok stunning, said she had seen the show the day before but came again with a closer seat to view the costumes better.
Some audience members said they might have found some new ideas for their work, walking out of the Kennedy Center, one of the best theaters in the world. Shen Yun will be visiting Baltimore this April.