Kathleen Troy and Keith Dougherty enjoyed Shen Yun at the The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, in Purchase, New York, on April 20, 2024. (Weiyong Zhu/The Epoch Times)
PURCHASE, N.Y.—Keith Dougherty, an actor and writer with his own theater company, had wanted to see Shen Yun Performing Arts for years. Saturday evening’s performance exceeded all expectations.
The world’s premier classical Chinese dance company was founded in New York in 2006 and has since become a global phenomenon, with tickets selling out in some 200 cities well in advance.
Mr. Dougherty saw a performance at the Purchase College on April 20 with Kathleen Troy, and said it was filled with beauty and magic.
“It was just beautiful. Beautiful. I learned something. It was just spectacular to watch,“ he said. ”Just gorgeous.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, which the Chinese held to be divinely inspired.
Mr. Dougherty and Ms. Troy said that the performance included a wide range of stories, and they indeed spanned from the Creator coming down from heaven to establish civilization in China to the modern day. But the takeaway was always positive, they added.
“Even though there was sadness, it turned it around from above and just made it a lesson and then beautiful,” said Mr. Dougherty.
Ms. Troy said, “It was a celebration of life.”
The divinely inspired aspect was evident and rang true for the theatergoers.
“We just were saying that it’s a beautiful message about God and love and creation,“ Ms. Troy shared. ”No matter what, war and famine and discontent, there’s more available, right? Divine.”
Mr. Dougherty agreed.
“There was just a sense of respect,” he said. “[The performance] exuded respect and divinity, and it’s just beautiful.”
“It was magical,” he said.
The two were far from alone in their sentiment.
Douglas Demarco, a retired schoolteacher, said he would walk out of the theater changed.
“The Shen Yun performance is so extraordinary you leave the theater not saying ‘I had a good time,’ you leave the theater saying this can change your life,” he said.
“It reaches your heart and reaches your soul, and it makes you—it makes you look for truth in things,” he said.
Barbara Blitstein and Douglas Demarco enjoyed Shen Yun at The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, in Purchase, New York, on April 20, 2024. (Sally Sun/The Epoch Times)
Mr. Demarco said that it was clear everyone in Shen Yun was “giving their heart and soul to you,” and it inspired audience members like him to do the same.
“You leave here, and you look for the good in people: charity. To give the way the performers give,” he said.
