SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Expresses ‘What Humanity Ought to Be Like,’ Says Company Founder

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Shen Yun Expresses ‘What Humanity Ought to Be Like,’ Says Company Founder
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, in Florida, on April 29, 2024. Zhang Qiming/The Epoch Times

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.

(L) Dale and Kathleen Hedrick and Tim Leuliette (far R) and his wife enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on April 30, 2024. (Yeawen Hung/The Epoch Times)
(L) Dale and Kathleen Hedrick and Tim Leuliette (far R) and his wife enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on April 30, 2024. Yeawen Hung/The Epoch Times

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.

“Love conquers all,” he said. Shen Yun had “just beautiful stories about [people’s] lives and how they were able to handle [difficulties.] Very nice.”

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.

He was happy to see Shen Yun bring out the beauty of China’s traditional culture and history.

“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.

“You can’t see [Shen Yun] in China. I had 35,000 employees in China, and they don’t get to see this because ancient Chinese culture is a threat to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party.)”
Due to Shen Yun’s focus on reviving traditional culture and presenting the truth of events under communist rule in present-day China, the company is currently banned by the regime from visiting China.

Mr. Leuliette would like to thank the performers “for their intensity, focus, and the desire to keep history alive. It’s very appreciated.”

Also in the audience were construction company founder Dale Hedrick and contractor Kathleen Hedrick.

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.

What Ms. Hedrick loved most about Shen Yun was the discipline and the integrity of the performers’ expressions, whether it be through dance or the use of their props.

“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.”

“The fact that [the artists] were all aware of it and showed it to us is to remind us that communism is suppressing all of this talent, this culture, and the beauty of what China could be. It’s enlightening that it’s being expressed on stage,” she added.

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.”

Reporting by Yeawen Hung and Jennifer Tseng.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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