Seeing Shen Yun, Consultant Amazed that Chinese History Comes From the Divine

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Jonathan and Alison Bales attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center on March 3, and left the theater discussing the highlights.

A data manager at the time, Mrs. Bales had nothing but positive words to share about her overall impression. “It’s fantastic. It’s very entertaining. It’s beautiful, graceful, powerful.”

Executive managing consultant Mr. Bales concurred. “Fabulous,” He said: “We were just talking about which our favorite pieces are. There’s so many to choose from,” He said.

“For mine it was surprising. It wasn’t one that I expected, but it’s the scholars with the fans. The fan works. Fantastic. There’s something about the way they used the fans and the snapping closed. It’s phenomenal.” He was able to see every detail of the dance.

“There was something about the entire blend of the dance, the fans, the notion of struggling to finish a work, a piece of work, and then being inspired by a spiritual being or whatever that might have been, but getting some spiritual intervention that helps you finish or complete that piece of work. Even the coloring, I loved the blues and just the feel of it and the mood, the entire mood of the piece.

“Although I don’t know why, that piece in particular appealed to me. Although it was not the strongest or most elegant, I found something that I really liked about the piece.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, and uses this ancient and expressive art form in its mission to bring 5,000 years of Chinese civilization to life around the world. In the last two years, this has come to be known as the China “Înaintea communism.”

Mrs. Bales said, “It was the Water Sleeves for the ladies. It was one of the earliest dances. Graceful. It was a feat of grace. It was so graceful. This is the only thing I love about my experience.