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February 20th, 2023 
Awake Goy 
PHOENIX—History has seen the ups and downs of humanity. Some have tried to rewrite or erase parts of that history, but Shen Yun Performing Arts is striving to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. The freedom of expression some audience members saw in Shen Yun struck a chord.
“Everyone should be free to believe what they want to believe, faith, culture, whatever! You should be free to be your own person. When you watch the dance you feel the sadness, too, of what has changed because you have to keep tradition. That’s history we should never forget, but this is so unique, that it brings every aspect out, I think. That’s what I really like about it,” said Rachel Collins, a senior account manager.
Having been around the world, Ms. Collins and her husband, Woodrow Collins, a contractor, has seen the different societies of the world. They attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Phoenix Orpheum the afternoon of Feb. 19.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot in our world. We’ve been to Russia before we were married and she’s been to Hong Kong. We’ve been very fortunate to travel a lot and to see things and that’s why I think we have a pretty good understanding of what we see and how it relates,” said Mr. Collins.
Shen Yun is based in New York, and it is dedicated to presenting a China before communism to audiences around the world.
“My father was a tail-gunner in WWII fighting tyranny and communism, quite frankly, and so to see [Shen Yun] really warms my heart. I didn’t realize until the show that this was what Shen Yun really pushed at the end of the day and I really agree with that, because that’s not the China we see now, which is a shame, because that China’s beautiful,” said Mr. Collins.
Shen Yun has eight companies touring around the world simultaneously, and each year Shen Yun puts on an all-new production.
“I’m so glad there’s a dance group like this, all over the world, because I’m from England and it’s there too in London, and my family told me ‘oh let us know what it’s like,’ so it’s everywhere, everyone is seeing it, so maybe something will resonate with people, I hope! This is really good!” said Mrs. Collins.
Shen Yun’s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance, a comprehensive dance system that goes back thousands of years.
“The preciseness is amazing!” said Mrs. Collins.
“I liked it all, honestly. You really have to pay attention to what the meaning is behind each dance, and that’s what I liked too. It wasn’t just a continuation, every dance was separate and had its own meaning—it was good,” she added.
Shen Yun’s use of a digital backdrop to extend the stage is its own patented technology. With it, dancers are able to fly high into the sky or dive deep into the sea.
“It’s fantastic yes! It’s great how they mix the modern with the traditional. I like the way they tied it in, it’s very clever how they jumped behind the screen,” said Mr. Collins.
Reporting by Linda Jiang 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.
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