DALLAS—As soon as the curtain rose on Shen Yun Performing Arts, Anna Blankman was moved to tears.
Without quite knowing why or how, Mrs. Blankman felt touched by the entire performance, and even remembering that opening scene of Buddhas and celestial maidens in heaven was enough to bring back the tears.
“Everything, everything ... it was all beautiful,” Mrs. Blankman said. She attended the performance with her husband Brian, an explosives technician, at the Winspear Opera House on Jan. 2.
The couple spoke of the importance of history and tradition after seeing New York-based Shen Yun’s revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization on stage.
“I think with bringing back some of the older cultures, you can get back in touch with … what made the people who they are,” Mr. Blankman said.
Shen Yun presents traditional culture and art in the form of classical Chinese dance. The culture was built on principles like respect for heaven, as it was believed to be divinely bestowed. Perhaps it is the universality of this concept that frequently leaves audience members feeling so deeply moved.
Darrell Williamson, who owns an accounting firm, said he felt a spiritual message, and “very one with nature and life and harmony and peace.”
The performers on stage filled the theater with an aura of peace, happiness, a fullness of life, and spirituality, he said.
Mr. Williamson felt the tradition was important to pass on, that it would lead to more young people thinking about meditation, spirituality, and to “open our minds up and think about things we normally don’t think about in our own ways.”
Jeremiah Strozewski, who grew up in different places around the world, said that the culture was different from any he encountered.
Mr. Strozewski saw the performance with his wife Diane, and the two felt more people should learn about this traditional Chinese culture.
“It benefits everyone’s lives ... more knowledge and better life. The more we know about each other, the more tolerance there is,” Mr. Strozewski said. “The more we understand where we come from, for everyone, I think that'll create a lot more of the peace that everyone wants.”
Reporting by Steve Xu, Mary Yuan, and Catherine Yang
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.
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.
