ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Terry and Cecelia Korda attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at Rochester Auditorium Theatre on May 7. Mr. Korda said, “It was terrific. The costumes were wonderful, the dancing was wonderful. It was amazing.
“All the people on the stage, they were dancing as if they were one person. [The hosts] were very good too,” said Mr. Korda, a landlord. “And the singers, the band were good, I don’t know where to start.”
Mr. Korda was impressed with how the backdrop screen, Shen Yun’s own invention, worked with the performance. “And the amazing thing was when the people disappeared and became a cartoon. That was amazing.”
“I loved it,” he said. Mr. Korda said it was his first time watching Shen Yun. “I didn’t know what to expect, but my eyes were glued. I am waiting for the next new thing to happen. So it was very, very, very interesting.”
He said many moments touched his heart. “A lot of moments, but the biggest thing was when the people turned into a cartoon. It’s amazing how the background, they jump and boom, they fly away. That’s great.”
Assistant Principal: Shen Yun Shows Respect for the Divine
Kelli Regin, assistant principal at the Academy of Health Sciences Charter School, attended the performance with students of the school.“Being able to bring the kids: They got more out of this than they would sitting in class for like an entire semester, right? It’s just another way to learn something new,” she said. “I’m just glad we were able to come. They really enjoyed the experience. So this is great.”
She said how much she valued what the arts bring to everyone. “The value of the arts is able to present new ideas and new cultures, and help me become familiar with these things in a way that I may not have gotten before.”
Ms. Regin noted Shen Yun was reviving traditional culture. “I think that’s so important. As an American, we don’t get to learn very much about other cultures, even around the world.”
“I think that’s the basis was respecting and knowing how to treat other people around us, right? We’re all divine beings in one way, shape, or form. And I think that really came out in the presentation today. We respect divine beings and we respect each other because we all come from the divine. So I love that.”Ms. Regin noted how those who practice Falun Dafa are persecuted for their belief in China, yet work to revive China’s traditional culture.
“What I think was really profound for me was how [they are] being persecuted for what they believe in and trying to stick to the traditional beliefs. I think that’s very profound,” she said.
“And that is something that we should appreciate because we don’t have to worry about that here in this country. And it definitely gave me a different view of what’s going on in China. You know, sometimes here we get a romanticized view of what China is. And so, yeah, that affected me, and you can really see the respect that the performers have for the traditions.”
