PERTH, Australia—“It blew my mind away, it was really something that I haven’t seen before.” This was Dr. Jess Bunning’s response to Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company’s opening night, in Perth’s Regal Theatre, on May 1.
“The combination of the dance, the music, and the orchestra was incredible but the themes and the stories that came out of it and the history was extraordinary … and it was really an excellent quality show on many levels,” she said after the full-house performance.
Ms. Bunning, who holds a doctorate in Sustainability, works with a company that uses Space Technologies for Sustainable Development. She has previously worked as an International consultant for the World Heritage Centre, and a program assistant for UNESCO.
The mission of Shen Yun is to revive the ancient Chinese culture that has almost been wiped out by communist rule.
“I think it opened our mind to the diversity … and richness of Chinese culture and that’s something that should be definitely promoted, preserved and encouraged amongst the young Chinese generation growing up.”
“To try and condense 5000 years of civilization in what 2 hours, they did an amazing job. Just giving small snippets of different stages in history to people was a really an amazing way to give people a good insight into the Chinese culture and richness of that heritage,” she said.
“Under the last 60 years of atheist communist rule, China’s divinely inspired culture has been almost completely destroyed. That is why you cannot see a performance like Shen Yun in China today,” according to the company website.
“Shocked, in this day and age, absolutely shocked,” said Ms. Bunning.
“I believe that in my time we will see that change and I think it has to change in the 21st century. People ... want to express that diversity, that’s part of being a human being, ... expressing their history, their civilization, their culture … and every human being has the right to that knowledge and identity.”
Ms. Bunning says the mission of Shen Yun is very important.
A message she has for the Shen Yun artists is, “Continue doing exactly what you are doing and show as many people as you can across the world because on so many different levels it is really telling a very important story to people.”
To others she says, “I would say if there’s one show to see at the moment, this one is a must, a must see.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Christine Ford
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006
