WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—Private investor Tim Leuliette experienced Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on April 30.
He praised the performance, describing it as “very good” and thought it was “interesting that [the artists] took from the old as well as the new and the current to weave the stories.”
“It’s very relevant and very topical,” he commented.
According to its website, the name “Shen Yun” translates directly into “the beauty of divine beings dancing.” Based in New York, the artists have made it their mission to revive—through dance and music—China’s divinely inspired civilization to its pre-communist glory.
Shen Yun’s performance, in a series of short pieces, takes its audience on a journey through the dynasties and across the vast regions of China.
Using classical Chinese, folk, and ethnic dances, as well as solo musical performances, Shen Yun tells tales from ancient times to the modern day.
Mr. Leuliette was very touched by the story-based dance depicting the devotion of a wife who waited 18 years for her husband to return from war.
When Mr. Leuliette visited Shanghai in 1984, skyscrapers taller than six stories were rare. Over the subsequent years, rapid changes occurred, though he acknowledged that not all were positive.
“Everyone needs to understand their history. It’s important to celebrate your history, your roots, and your culture. It’s very good. That was a beautiful China, and we’ll be back to that someday,” he stated.
Mr. Leuliette would like to thank the performers “for their intensity, focus, and the desire to keep history alive. It’s very appreciated.”
Shen Yun’s Story is Universal
Mr. Hedrick is convinced Shen Yun has a story that “needs to be told.”“The connection that we all have together with what is being told here is universal. It’s beautiful,” he said.
“The colors, the precision, the quality of everything they have—the beauty is just incredible. We need, as Americans, to understand that China’s [history] is a beautiful story.”
He would love to tell the performers, “You’ve expressed what we all feel in our hearts what humanity ought to be like.”
“We need to get back to it. The oppression that the Chinese people are under now needs to be exposed to the world so that they can once again be [good] and care about everyone,” he added.
“It’s a beautiful heritage. I’m grateful they’re doing it not just to show the culture, but they’re showing communism and what can happen [with it in power],” she stated.
Referring to the modern-day narrative dance portraying the Chinese Communist Party’s stealing of human organs from people of faith to sell for profit on the black market, Ms. Hedrick said, “We hear about it, but we don’t witness it.”
To the performers, she would like to tell them, “Well done.”
“Keep on standing your ground on your belief, and sharing your culture. The truth always sets you free.”
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