(Minghui.org) The Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. played host to the world renown Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company for thirteen breathtaking shows from March 21 - April 1, 2012. Each performance transported audience members to new heights of awe and wonder.

Ray LaHood, Sec. of Transportation: “I’d give [Shen Yun] an A-plus”

Ray LaHood, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation, attended Shen Yun at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C. Sunday March 25. (Photo courtesy of the Epoch Times)

Among the many dignitaries in the audience was U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who was accompanied by his wife. The couple said that they'd been waiting a long time to see Shen Yun.

After seeing the show, Mr. LaHood exclaimed, “I’d give it an A-plus,” adding, “...we wanted to see this performance.”

The transportation secretary thoroughly appreciated the show, including the music, costumes, and gorgeous, animated backdrops.

Noting the quality of the performance Mr. LaHood said, “The precision of the dancers is just perfect. I’ll definitely recommend it. It’s beautiful.”

Locals Dignitaries Full of Praise for Shen Yun

The Kennedy Center Opera House, Washington. (Photo courtesy of the Epoch Times)

Also in the audience was Indiana Rep. Dan Burton who said, “I think it’s one of the most beautiful shows I have ever seen.” Warren Buffet's sister, the well known philanthropist Doris Buffett, said, “Anybody could see that show [Shen Yun] and be happy.” Head of the D.C.-based Duke Ellington School of Arts, Rory Pullens, described the show as “so cultural, so enlightened, and just so artistic.”

Janice Nevin, a former ballet dancer and now member of the National Society of Arts and Letters in Washington D.C. exclaimed, “It’s got everything. It’s got dance, it’s got music, it’s got culture, it’s rich in its embroidery of the story it's telling,” adding, “Such a high level of excellence.”

Noting the uniqueness of the show, retired U.S. Army Major General Tony Taguba, now chairman and CEO for Asian Pacific Leadership and Mentors, said, “We were just incredibly... you might say, shocked—in a positive way—of how beautiful the culture of dance in China has been.”

President/CEO: Shen Yun Talks to the Audience at Many Levels

Ms. Trader-Leigh attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at Washington's Kennedy Center on Wednesday evening. (Photo courtesy of the Epoch Times)

Dr. Karyn Trader-Leigh, president and CEO of KTA Global Partners, a management consulting firm, enjoyed the light-hearted aspects of the show, especially the dance set, Joyful Little Monks.

“I loved the playfulness of the monks, and what life is like in a cloistered life. It made me think of life before television in terms of how we entertained ourselves, the rich pageantry,” she said.

Trader-Leigh also appreciated the many different ethnic cultures presented in the show. “You don’t always hear about ethnic groups in China, except the Han people, which is everybody, so [it was good] to hear about community and rural life, and the role of dance and culture in sustaining that.”

Sensing a deeper level to the show, she said, “There’s a lot of communication on a lot of different levels, about life, about spiritual evolution, and development there.”

She noted the structure of the dance sequences as a way of story-telling, saying, “It communicates to me something about order, order in the universe, and bringing order out of chaos.”

Dr. Trader-Leigh added, “The use of space; not just the movement, but the space one creates in design around and with everyone, that’s a form of beauty. Color is beauty. Then there’s a whole aesthetic that is just the role that beauty plays in life. I don’t know how to say it. It’s almost like beauty has a spiritual purpose.”

She concluded. “If you are a Chinese parent and your family has been here for generations, or not long, this is a wonderful opportunity to give your children your historic culture.”

TV, Radio Station Founder Says Shen Yun ‘Incredible’

Cathy Hughes attends Shen Yun Performing Arts in Washington D.C. on Sunday afternoon, April 1. (Photo courtesy of the Epoch Times)

Cathy Hughes, the founder and chairperson of Radio One, TV One, and Interactive One, the largest African American owned and operated media company in the United States, said Shen Yun was “the most beautiful production I have seen in years.”

Hughes felt very connected to the spiritual elements of traditional Chinese culture in Shen Yun.

“I loved the spiritual part. I loved the fact that Buddha is in many scenes and the whole spirituality issue of good always conquering evil, I think it’s so very important,” she said.

Patricia Grady, a writer and consultant on an educational program for the U.S. Agency for International Development, noted the educational aspects of the production, saying Shen Yun offered insight, not only into China’s 5,000-year culture, but also into the realities of China today.

“I liked the way it shows the contrast between the current culture and the creative expression through the ages, that it’s a conflict. It was done very naturally through the dance—it was beautiful.”

She said that Shen Yun is “the most beautiful production I have seen in years”

“I’m going to tell everyone,” she exclaimed, adding that when it comes back to Washington, it should “sell out every night.”

In discussing the dancers’ athleticism, she said, “To see them do what they were doing was just incredible.”

Ms. Hughes explained that Americans “are a very fashion oriented culture,” thus audience members would be excited to see Shen Yun’s “color combinations and the silks, and the fabrics and the fans, and the headdresses.”

She spoke about the “spirituality issue of good always conquering evil,” adding, “I think, it is so very important.”

Ms. Hughes believed that the African American community would appreciate these values.

Shen Yun portrays the ongoing brutal persecution of Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, in contemporary China. Falun Dafa is a meditation practice that is based on truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Ms. Hughes thought the inclusion of this aspect in the performance “was so important I think in the piece to help us better understand that [Shen Yun] could be performed in America, but not in their own country.”

Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn and his son, Will Lamborn, attend Shen Yun Performing Arts in Washington. (Photo courtesy of the Epoch Times)

Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn, a member of the International Religious Freedom Caucus in the U.S. Congress, said the Shen Yun performance was both “magnificent” and “heartwarming.” He said that the dramatic scenes of persecution that practitioners of Falun Gong endure in China today had made the show all the more powerful.

“It gives a good insight into the cultural history of China,” he said, adding, “There’s also some very touching presentations about the triumph of the human spirit—about courage in the face of persecution that Falun Gong followers have had to suffer.”

Dr. John Lenczowski, founder and president of The Institute of World Politics said he was “amazed.”

“The fact that [Shen Yun] is telling the truth and is accompanying it with beauty, is something good,” he said. “That’s what the ancient philosophers have taught us, that there is a relationship between beauty, truth, and goodness.”

Sources:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/shen-yun-on-tour/ray-lahood-transportation-head-gives-shen-yun-a-plus-211198.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/shen-yun-on-tour/locals-laud-shen-yun-as-season-ends-in-d-c-214842.html
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/shen-yun-on-tour/tv-radio-station-founder-calls-shen-yun-incredible-214152.html