The 2024 Shen Yun season officially concluded on May 12, and it was our biggest tour ever! As Shen Yun continued to grow and invitations arrived from new cities, this season broke records, featuring 810 performances across 209 cities in 22 countries.
"We've covered a lot of ground this year," Principal Dancer Jane Chen said after finishing her last performance in Brazil. "And yes, it's tiring, but when you see the enthusiasm we're getting back from the audience, the fatigue just disappears."
Here are a few of this year's highlights:
Tour began December 22 in Nagoya, Japan, and ended May 12 in Stamford, Connecticut.
In Japan, Shen Yun saw an explosion in popularity. Our most extensive Japan tour to date had two months of shows in 11 cities, and even that wasn't nearly enough to meet demand.
In France, we started performing in larger venues, such as Bordeaux's Arkea Arena, which saw 16,000 audience members watch four sold-out performances. As part of the European tour, France alone had 70 performances in 10 cities.
Not to be outdone, the United Kingdom also hosted Shen Yun in 10 cities across England, Scotland, and Wales, with first-time performances in Milton Keynes and Northampton, as well as a two-week run in London.
Continuing through Europe, Shen Yun broke ground again, and expanded to four cities in Spain, nine cities in Germany, and six in Italy.
In South Korea, where the Chinese Communist Party has tried blocking Shen Yun performances through economic and political threats for years, the local presenters and theaters overcame tremendous pressure and hosted Shen Yun in four cities.
In the United States, we performed in 44 states and Washington, D.C., with California holding performances in 15 cities.
We performed for the first time in Puerto Rico, with six shows in the capital of San Juan. Shen Yun was a box office hit, as tickets sold out before the company even arrived. The enthusiastic audience members, seeing the performance for the first time, clapped and laughed seemingly nonstop from the beginning to the end.
And in Mexico, Shen Yun performed in front of over 20,000 people at Auditorio Nacional in the capital and had two separate runs in Guadalajara. Due to demand, a matinee was added to the season's final day and sold out within a week.
"This was not an easy tour, and, in a way, every tour is not easy," said Principal Dancer Hungwei Sun after the final performance in Guadalajara on May 9. "Especially in Mexico, because of the high altitude it's challenging both physically and mentally. But it's so worth it. We performed in front of 4,000 people per show, and nothing can compare to how rewarding that is."
"What stood out to me during this tour was the first and last show," Sun said. "The first show, because we were excited to share a brand-new production with the audience for the first time. And the last show, because we did what we set out to do and carried it through to the end."
As our dancers, musicians, singers, and production crew return home from five months on the road, they look forward to seeing family and friends, unpacking their suitcases, and getting ready for well-deserved vacations.
Soon after that, it will be time to prepare for next year's production and see what surprises the 2025 tour has in store.
In the meantime, if you want to take a deeper dive into some of the classic stories featured in this year's performance, we invite you to explore our features on The Story of Lady Xi Shi, Golden Monkey Battles Red Child, and Devotion.
And if you haven't done so yet, be sure to see what the online streaming platform Shen Yun Creations has to offer—including dances from past productions, our Symphony Orchestra concerts, behind-the-scenes videos from life on tour, feature shorts, classical Chinese dance educational videos, dance technique showcases, and a whole lot more.
It's been an incredible tour, and we can't wait to see you again soon. Until then, as our MCs say at the end of every show: "Thank you very much! We'll see you next year!"
