LONG BEACH, Calif.\u2014John Meinert and Maria Meinert saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on Feb. 8 at Terrace Theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was beautiful, reminding me there is beauty in the world. I thought the dancing was the best in the world,\u201d said Mr. Meinert, who owns a financial planning practice.<\/p>\n
Shen Yun, based in New York, is on a mission<\/a> to present \u201cChina before communism,\u201d and revive people\u2019s connection with 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m more of the traditional, the spiritual, and the old-fashioned,\u201d said Ms. Meinert.<\/p>\n She loved that Shen Yun is able to show younger audience members what it means to have respect.<\/p>\n \u201cOne does not have to be religious or believe the same thing to accept the history of the culture and what\u2019s going on today. I love the storytelling,\u201d Mr. Meinert said.<\/p>\n Shen Yun\u2019s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance<\/a>, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.The expressive nature of classical Chinese dance allows the dancer to communicate deep emotions and tell complex stories from Chinese history<\/a> and literature.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI just loved everything about it because\u2014that story\u2014I think needs to be told more and more,\u201d Ms. Meinert said.<\/p>\n Shen Yun\u2019s use of its digital backdrop<\/a> is patented. The versatility of the technology allows the set to change scenes in the blink of an eye, giving the stage endless possibilities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe combination of the digital screen background and everything else was wonderful, different. There was a little girl sitting next to me, and she was just watching with her eyes open, just watching all of that interaction between the screen and the people and everything,\u201d Mr. Meinert said.<\/p>\n He added that if a performance like this can be loved by kids, \u201cyou know it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n The Shen Yun Orchestra<\/a>, which tours with Shen Yun, is a unique combination of traditional Chinese instruments and a classic Western ensemble. One instrument that shone under the spotlight was the two-stringed erhu.<\/p>\n \u201cThe erhu performance, the performance just gave me tears. So beautiful,\u201d Mr. Meinert said.<\/p>\n Audience members have expressed that going to Shen Yun is like getting a package deal of dance, an orchestra, singers,<\/a> and beautiful costumes<\/a>. One ticket that unlocks them all.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I introduce my friend to the show, I would say it\u2019s like going to the opera, to a symphony concert, to a play, to a dance concert. It\u2019s a lot of things put together. And so it really keeps your interest nicely. And it\u2019s just plain beautiful. It reminds us human beings that we can be beautiful,\u201d Mr. Meinert said.<\/p>\n Reporting Michael Ren and Maria Han.<\/p>\n NTD is a media sponsor of\u00a0Shen Yun Performing Arts, covering\u00a0audience reactions\u00a0since 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Calif.\u2014John Meinert and Maria Meinert saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on Feb. 8 at Terrace Theater.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-175245","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-long-beach","9":"tag-long-beach-headlines","10":"tag-long-beach-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}