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Mr. Casagrande, of the law firm Antone, Casagrande & Adwers, attended Shen Yun Touring Company's performance at the Detroit Opera House, on Friday, Jan. 27. (Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times)
DETROIT—Shen Yun Touring Company’s performance at the Detroit Opera House left theatergoers excited and uplifted on Friday night, Jan. 27. Among them were two Immigration Attorneys with their families. “I thought it was very interesting the way they demonstrated through dance the fight for freedom of expression,” said Justin D. Casagrande, Immigration Attorney, one of the owners of a Michigan-based immigration law firm located in Farmington Hills, Mich.
Throughout the course of Chinese civilization’s five thousand years, a recurring theme is that good is rewarded and wrongdoing is punished. The lesson still rings true in China today, where a contest of good and evil is playing out, according to the program book.
“The way the artists are able to bring that out and communicate that in other forms is a very, very important issue. That’s a very important issue in China, the U.S. and throughout the world. The way they were able to convey that, I thought, was very powerful,” continued Mr. Casagrande.
Immigration attorney Benjamin Lee attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Detroit Opera House, Jan. 27. (Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times)
His colleague, immigration attorney Benjamin Lee, who works at the same law firm, Antone, Casagrande & Adwers, P.C., stepped in: “Freedom of choice, freedom of belief … it ties a lot in what we want to do. Our role is to help people.”
Mr. Casagrande added: “In our role as immigration attorneys, we’re able to see that many people throughout the world don’t have the same freedoms that we take for granted in the U.S. everyday.” The attorney appreciated the company’s ability to bring this type of dance to people in the Opera House. “That this show could not be seen in China is a statement of itself along with the dance,” he affirmed.
While watching the show, Mr. Lee recognized the cultural things he was exposed to during his teenage years in Taiwan. He elaborated on China’s diversity and that every story had its “own unique traditional Chinese aspects.” He liked a story about monk Ji Gong, who lived in the 12th century and helped others in the most surprising of ways, as said in the program. Benjamin also enjoyed the story about Monkey King, the central character in China’s classic novel Journey to the West.
Shen Yun’s performance draws upon stories and legends that span China’s history from the Yellow Emperor and through the Tang and Song dynasties and all the way to the modern day. A unique feature of Chinese civilization is that its history has been documented and passed down uninterrupted for 5,000 years, sometimes in vivid detail, according to the company’s website.
Mr. Casagrande was interested in the cultural aspects of the different dances. “I enjoyed the folk dances as well as the more traditional.”
He was very impressed with the backdrop screen. ”The way they were able to integrate the video on the display with the live action was amazing, especially in a dance with the Monkey King. The dancer was seamless with the incredible graphics in the background. It really brought it into life. It was an amazing effort.”
Speaking of the company’s singers, he said that they were fantastic. “Each of them brought something different and all had very powerful voices.”
Calling the ideas behind messages “universal”, Mr. Casagrande said he “was interested in the way these ideas were expressed in translations … from the screen.” Having been involved in international relations and meeting people from different cultures, the attorney noted that although the universal principles are conveyed in different ways in different cultures, “these ideas are the same throughout the world.”
Reporting by Charlie Lu and Nataly Teplitsky.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. The International Company, one of Shen Yun’s three equally large companies, will perform in the Detroit Opera House, Detroit, through Jan. 29.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
