Shen Yun 2015

I thought Shen Yun was an amazing Chinese cultural performing arts show full of great music, soprano and dance. All the complaining about Falun Dafa propaganda expressed here sounds ridiculous. China doesn’t allow freedom of speech. It’s a beautiful thing it can be done here.
The message was more expression of illustrating a current prevalence in communist China forbidding practice. I did not feel in any sort of persuasiveness in the show to push Falun Dafa. The persecution is alive and well with thousands of organs being harvested illicitly from practicioners caught by the government. It’s awareness, and this happens to be part of the cultural theme. There is no freedom of speech, religion and even dance in China. I applaud them for seizing the opportunity to do so here.
As for the show itself, the costumes, hair and make up were carnivalesqe and beautiful. The dancing, handling of props and talent was most impressive! The video screen in the background was a great way to show flying without going «Cirque du Soleil». The live orchestra, soprano, and solo instrumentals playing displayed true talent. I thought the Mandarin speaking hostess and host who spoke mostly English were appropriate. They were both charismatic and entertaining. Who cares if he wasn’t Chinese. They both did an excellent job narrating.
The show was 2 hours long with a 15 min. intermission. Yes, they were expensive regardless. I got box seats for $ 300 each at the War Memorial in SF and wanted to see the entire stage all the way to the back, sit comfortably and get in and out of my seat easily. They change the show a bit every year, but it’s more a one time thing to enjoy and appreciate Chinese cultural arts.
If you haven’t seen the show and have an appreciation for cultural performing arts, it’s a great Chinese cultural freedom of expression through great song and dance!

Although, I have seen the advertisements for Shen Yun for several years, I never attended a performance. Luckily a friend invited me this month, so I quickly accepted! The dancing was entrancing and different than any other theatre dance I had witnessed. It was particularly enhanced by the splendid costumes, which were so creatively designed in both form and color. All of the dances were amazing, especially the «Handkerchiefs» and «Fairies of the Sea» routines which were simply mesmerizing! There was a full orchestra, which provided such a rich accompaniment to the movements of the dancers. In addition, there was a soprano soloist and an interesting musical piece with the erhu, a Chinese instrument. Yes, there was commentary about the Chinese lack of freedoms, but this did not detract from the performance for me.

This was a terrible experience! Reminded us of Scientology people. Spent $ 400.00 on four tickets to be clubbed over the head with Falan Dafa religious stuff. DO NOT go. I actually lost sleep the next night just running over how stupid we were– we really got taken! It’s embarrassing actually! I was really ²⁄₃ of the way through the show when I realized we were watching a religious pageant designed to get us into Falan Dafa. And then once you realize that you review all the things you had enjoyed before but were too stupid to realize what was happening. I felt really felt dumb for having spent a ton of money and for looking forward to taking the kids for weeks. Worst of all our youngest (age 12) really liked the show and was so bummed as we drove away to hear we were feeling wronged. He was confused because he didn’t understand what had happened (that there was a complete ulterior motive to the production). So we bummed him out! So if you did get taken by Shen Yun, don’t spoil it for the kids unless they are old enough to not be bummed that the «pretty dancing» was a dishonest scheme to part you from your money.

I leaned over and whispered to my dad, «how do you say propaganda in Chinese?» I’m all for freedom of expression in the good olé USA and don’t even mind the anti-​Chinese government messaging. But the cheeseyyyyy propaganda was a turn off. Come on folks — that was just insulting.
Also, really what’s with the only white guy who can speak Mandarin? You know there are Chinese Americans also fluent in English and Mandarin right? I was disappointed by this. They have a comical cheesy animation screen of floating deities that turn into people and start dancing. The dancing in great synchronization, nice costumes, but nothing special to be honest. I left at intermission, it wasn’t even intelligent propaganda. Don’t do it man.

How did I find myself here? Girlfriend bought my mother and her tickets to a show. Lucky (or unlucky) for me there was an extra ticket. What I thought was going to be just a bunch of Chinese foos dancing in pajamas turned out to be so much more. So grateful. So rhythmic. All in all. Good show. Expect a lot of foos dancing in pajamas.

All the low reviews they got previously must have inspired the Falun Gong to create this new Unilocal page and fill it with their biased reviews. For the older Unilocal page about this same show, please go to…

It’s not easy to have a perfect show with a group of a hundred people. Think
about: the back drop, the life orchestra, the dancers, they need to do everything
timingly. Those Shenyun artists make me feel Wow! — people can work so closely
together, and so harmony! It’s rare in today’s society. Shenyun is the number
one show of the world!!! After watching the show, I felt calm, energetic,
hope.
Very Very Recommend! Must see at least once in a life time!!!

I saw this show in January and our family will be back to see it again when it returns to SF. This show is truly magnificent — I’m not exaggerating when I say there are scenes that are so beautiful that the audience gasps in amazement. What is it? It’s 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through dance, songs, storytelling and the music of a live orchestra. What sets the show apart are the values it conveys and you can really feel the energy of the performers, the precision of all the moves, it’s like divine beings have come to earth on the stage. My wife was in fashion and she is always impressed with the costumes, which are authentic to each period and region of China. Like any great performance, it works on so many levels — there’s a lot to remember, share and think about after the show. This is a great family show, it has the kind of values you want to convey to your kids.

It’s so pure and exciting. I really enjoy how the dancers seem to flow like water. The orchestra mixes traditional Chinese instruments with Western Instruments, so that is really a treat to hear. Also, the stories are quite interesting. In the West I don’t think we are exposed to these sorts of stories. I think it’s really something worth seeing. Take a good friend or family. You’ll really enjoy it!

Even though we were late and had other plans on top of this the performance was better than what we expected!
Being Chinese-​American and growing up here in Sacramento all my life, I had the experience of attending Chinese school for about 5 – 6 years at Confucious Temple downtown. My dad really wanted me to continue Chinese school to the point of bribing me but I wouldn’t do it. I did however see Chinese opera musicals and they were very loud. To me as a young kid I didn’t think much but it really was an experience of a lifetime that I now appreciate.
This was one of those type of performances that was more
Chinese classical but more contemporary in this day and age. There were always two commentators: one speaking in Chinese and the other in English to announce each performance.
One really needs to attend the performance to understand what it was like. Remember that this performance could not be performed in China as it was a freedom of speech which we take so much for granted here in America.
I also would not spend 150 for each ticket. Just buy the cheapest so you can see and decide for yourself. Come with an open mind! And enjoy!