WASHINGTON—World-touring Shen Yun Performing Arts of New York returned to America's premier theater, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Aug. 25 with a VIP-only performance. Shen Yun brought the house down.
Reminiscent of the Shen Yun performances at the Kennedy Center in February when 100 extra standing- room-only tickets were sold to accommodate the show's popularity, the audience attending Tuesday cheered and gave a standing ovation.
Among the audience was the former U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, Richard Swett, and his wife, Katrina. Among Mr. Swett's many accomplishments include serving as board member on the Lantos Foundation, which promotes human rights world wide; CEO of Swett Associates, Inc.; and former U.S. Congressman of New Hampshire.
Mr. Swett said Shen Yun was enlightening.
"I felt cleaner coming out of this performance than I did coming in. The cares of the world were shed from my shoulders; I was uplifted, I was filled with hope," he said.
In particular, Mr. Swett marveled at the breadth of cultural tradition that Shen Yun presents. The guiding mission of Shen Yun Performing Arts is to showcase China's five-millennia-old divinely inspired culture.
"I saw civilization that really has much more than just the last 60 or 70 years to speak about. And those thousands of years are so impressive and so incredibly important and I’m very pleased that we were able to see this tonight," he said.
The values of the ancient culture impressed Mr. Swett: "I think the show is a wonderful display of the real values that I know have been what have made the 5,000 year civilization of China so wonderfully strong and vibrant, and the color and the energy that these performers conveyed, along with the messages and the stories of these historical and traditional themes that have always permeated the culture, makes for just an extraordinarily clean and vibrant presentation," he said.
Although Mr. Swett is well acquainted with Shen Yun performances, he said he learns more every time he sees them. "This show had new elements in it that I hadn’t seen before; ... they’re always a little bit different and I always learn a little bit more. And even if I was watching the same one time and time again, I’ll remember more the next time, and so I think I have another 10 performances that I need to go to before I’m fully up to speed on all of the messages and history that they’ve portrayed," he said.
The combination of all the theatrical elements makes Shen Yun's shows so powerful, he said. "I was talking with my wife during the show about this, what I really appreciated here is that there is a mixture of artistic, musical, dance on display with the narrative of what those stories are about and where in the culture they came from, and to me, that mixture, I found very, very enlightening."
By narrative, Mr. Swett is referring to the show's two emcees, who introduce each performance and explain some elements of Chinese history or culture.
"I learned much more about the culture than I would have had I just listened to the songs or watched the dancing, and enjoy the performance nonetheless, but the way it was so nicely woven in with the narrative gave me much more insight and a much deeper sense of what the culture has been able to produce over these 5,000 years," he said.
Overall, Mr. Swett was impressed by the Chinese character revealed to him through the show. "... you get an insight into the good discipline, the wonderful unity of the community and how the Chinese have always worked together to preserve those good values in their society.
"I’d like to see if I can take a little bit of this and impart it to my countrymen and women in the United States," he concluded.
A six show run will be held at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center Opera House from August 26 to 30
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
