BERLIN, Germany—Mr. Frank Roggman, owner of a cleaning firm and a former choir member, took a friend to see the Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company at the Berlin Internationales Congress Centrum on March 23. They journeyed to the theater on snowy roads.
Shen Yun, a company based in New York, tours around the world presenting a revival of the 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture.
Mr. Roggman said the performance inspired him.
“We were thrilled and glad that this show told us something that is called courage,” Mr. Roggman said.
A few of the dance pieces show the persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, a cultivation practice that’s based on truthfulness, compassion and forbearance, and which has helped over 100 million Chinese return to the essence of traditional culture.
“Scenes in the show tell me of the regime’s maltreatments of its citizens, and how it violates the freedom of religion principle even though Falun Gong is practiced throughout the world,” said Mr. Roggman.
The cultural revival that is Shen Yun began because the regime, over 60 years of ruling China, “has treated traditional Chinese values centered on the idea of harmony between heaven and earth as a threat to its existence,” according to Shen Yun’s website.
“And in its systematic campaigns like the Cultural Revolution, it has uprooted traditional beliefs and destroyed ancient treasures bringing traditional 5,000 years of civilization to the brink of extinction,” it adds. “Humanity’s treasure was nearly lost, but through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture.”
Shen Yun’s base is classical Chinese dance, accentuated by ethnic dances, as well as handmade costumes, digital backdrops, and an orchestra that melds both classical Chinese and Western instruments.
Having been a member of a choir, Mr. Roggman was very interested in the music.
“I enjoyed the music because it communicated with me and touched my heart,” he said.
While Shen Yun showed the human side of the Chinese culture, it also showed the divine, said Mr. Roggman.
“That is what fascinated me the most,” he said. “The artists presented to the audience truth, which is right and good.”
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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