Shen Yun Debuts in Israel!

FOUR SOLD-OUT PERFORMANCES IN TEL AVIV, VIP AUDIENCE, AND WONDROUS OUTINGS PART OF AN UNFORGETTABLE SOJOURN

Where the local presenters eagerly awaited them.

The artists then went exploring Tel Aviv and the old city of Yafo (Jaffa). (Photo by Principal Dancer Kenji Kobayashi)

In flip-flops and shorts, they almost fit right in. (Photo by Kenji Kobayashi)

On an overcast day, the company took a trip to Jerusalem and posted at the lookout over the city from the Mount of Olives.

Area along the southern part of Temple Mount, leading to the City of David. (Photo by percussionist Tiffany Yu)

View from the the lower Jewish Quarter balcony above the steps leading to the ground level of the Western Wall. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

Principal dancers Angelia Wang (left) and Melody Qin in the Old City part of Jerusalem. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

Golgotha, just inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After climbing a set of steep steps to a false floor you get a close view of the ceiling. This site includes the crucifixion site at top of Golgotha Hill. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

And, of course, a trip through the Old City Market. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

…which included lots of opportunities for good local food. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

A recurring theme throughout the entire Israel stay. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

The group then headed through the desert to the Dead Sea. At -304 meters (-997 feet), the Dead Sea is the lowest, and saltiest, point on Earth. (Photo by Tiffany Yu)

The Dead Sea also holds the record for the world’s lowest bar, lowest Coca Cola advertisement, and lowest presence of a Shen Yun performer. (Photo by Kenji Kobayashi)

And finally, four performances in front of a standing-room only audience at Tel Aviv’s beautiful Opera House.

The long wait is over. In its twelfth world tour, Shen Yun finally premiered in Israel, performing four sold-out shows in front of an eager audience that included celebrities and leading entrepreneurs.

The Israel performances took place at the prestigious Opera House in the heart of Tel Aviv. A three-day run March 25–27, it was part of Shen Yun New York Company’s 2018 Europe tour, sandwiched between shows in Italy and France.

Shen Yun had performed in Turkey in 2010, but otherwise this was the company’s only other trip to the Middle East. There had been previous attempts to bring Shen Yun to Israel, but the difficulties of booking the performances and scheduling a special trip to the Holy Land forced Shen Yun, local organizers, and enthusiastic audience members to wait.

This year—as Shen Yun has grown to five touring companies and expanded its Europe schedules—the stars aligned.

“There are just no words to express it,” said renowned Israeli clarinetist Giora Feidman after seeing Shen Yun. “I am not the same person who went into the performance. I am not the same person now coming out.”

Among celebrities in the audience were leading Israeli artists and entrepreneurs, such as Feidman, singer Si Heiman, and business tycoon Zvi Stepak.

“It is so beautiful, it is so perfect, and so inspiring, I have no words. I am sorry, I cannot. I don’t have words,” said architect Israel Meir Goodovitch. “They came right to my soul.”

“We haven’t seen something like this before,” said Meir Uzan, the founder of Shekel Group, one of Israel's largest insurance companies. “It was very moving.”

“All the spiritual parts, souls from heavens, Heaven and Earth. I felt very connected to it,” said Shira Golan, a singer who performs sacred Jewish music.

Singer Miri Aloni, who famously performed “Song for Peace,” found in Shen Yun something reminiscent of her own past. “The colors and the stories, bring me back to my childhood,” she said. “The purity of the stories… It cleansed my heart.”

Before and after the performances, Shen Yun’s artists seized the opportunity to tour a few of Israel’s famous sites (see photo gallery), including the Jerusalem, Yafo, and the Dead Sea.

Both the performers and the audience members agree—they can’t wait to come back.