“I love the show,” he said. “I thought the orchestra was wonderful. I’ve listened to a lot of shows from playing being a tuba player. I thought it was wonderful. I like the colors of all the instruments. I love the singing. I thought that was a surprise. I didn’t expect to see that,” he said.
The Shen Yun orchestra is unique in that it combines a Western-style orchestra and Chinese instruments.
“The phrasing. The one thing that you have to get past when you listen to music like this is it’s different than what you’re used to listening to. The melodic lines, they’re much more polyphonic. They’re all going on; it comes back, it goes away,” he said.
“A lot of times when we’re playing Western music, it’s got like an eight-bar phrase or a 12-bar phrase like this, and this is different. I actually had a thought (as) I was listening to the bass trombone. A friend of mine plays bass trombone, and I was going to tell him about the audition [for the Shen Yun orchestra.]
Reviving Traditional Chinese Culture
Through classical Chinese dance and music, Shen Yun is sharing with the world the beauty of China’s authentic 5,000 years of history. Since its founding in 2006, the company has received worldwide accolades for its mission to revive traditional Chinese culture.“I’m a Christian, and I’m sitting there, hearing morals and principles and stuff that I thought, ‘Wow. It’s great that I heard this Easter week. We need to bust down walls in this world between different cultures and different people. The leaders aren’t working,” Mr. Force said.
He said he would spread the word. “I’m going to tell friends about it.”
Connecting with the Spiritual
Gary Kinney, a retired military captain and pastoral chaplain, especially resonated with the spiritual message of Shen Yun.“I thought it was very spiritual. I thought it would resemble pretty much anyone’s faith that believes in God,” Mr. Kinney said.
“The religions are different,” he said, “but God is the same. He loves all of us. And look at the beauty He’s created with this particular dance troupe and the beauty He creates with all of our lives.”
Mr. Kinney noted, “that all of our lives can serve (God) by serving one another and loving each other, and helping each other live properly on this earth.”
The first scene of the performance touched him very much.
“What I have is the warmth in my heart for the Lord. I’m a Christian, and I’m also a clinical pastoral chaplain. God knows love, regardless of whatever religion you’re from, and he appreciates when we worship him and praise him. And that is worship and praise—the dancing, the singing, was worship and praise,” he said.
He liked the heavenly quality of the performance, too, as many people have said Shen Yun is just like a show from heaven.
“Yes. Definitely there is music in heaven, there’s worship in heaven, and there’s beauty in heaven. And the thing is, what I saw here was, in a way, God’s love coming down to us.”
He praised the overall production.
“It’s wonderful and put together properly. I would say that it’s coordinated. All my life I’ve seen things done according to procedure, and beauty, and flexibility, and I see that your people are very, very well talented,” he said.
He was saddened by communism’s suppression of the Chinese people.
“And now [under communism] even though everybody must keep their mouth shut or lose their job, or be persecuted, or beaten up in China; there are more Christians and people of faith, your faith, than there ever was, because [communism] cannot take away what’s in your heart. They cannot take away your salvation, no matter what they do to you. They are cowards, but we love them anyway,” he said.
“I would tell them—keep up the good work; keep your health, exercise like I’ve exercised. Be sure you don’t injure yourselves. Keep on doing what you’re doing, and don’t let anyone discourage you. Although the CCP says no to Shen Yun, “I say ‘yes’ to you.”
If he could talk to people about Shen Yun, Mr. Kinney said, “I would tell them: ‘If you want to warm your heart and you want to see a beautiful show that allows you to see God and the beauty of God and God’s creation, which is us, animals, people, the beauty of that whole screen shows God’s presence.’”
