ADELAIDE, Australia—“This was the most spectacular performance,” said Ken Rolland, the Mayor of Holdfast Bay, after attending Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company at the Adelaide Festival Theatre on Saturday evening April 19, with his wife the Mayoress Anne Rolland.
“I think the coordination, the movement and the way the screen, the actors or characters can suddenly appear on stage was just simply amazing,” said the mayor.
“Keeping the Chinese culture alive and the history is wonderful,” added the mayoress.
Holdfast Bay is home to the the site of the original proclamation of the State of South Australia and is a popular seaside tourist destination,
The stunning beauty and tremendous energy of Shen Yun leave audiences uplifted and inspired. The costumes in every Shen Yun performance are a brilliant display of vibrant colors, and this was impressive to the mayor.
“They had beautiful costumes,” he said.
Both the mayor and mayoress were impressed with the message of good triumphs over evil and the virtues of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance are something we should all endeavour to achieve.
“Apart from all the beauty, it was the message, the message was wonderful,” the mayoress said.
The mayor added, “the message that comes across from all this hard work they are putting in is something that we all appreciate.”
Shen Yun uses a state-of-the-art digital backdrop which is appealing to many.
“I thought it was spectacular, the way they co-ordinated, the characters on the screen suddenly appearing on the stage, but I felt there were so many aspects to this, there was the music as well as the singing … and the dancing … and the spectacular displays of the silk scarves and their long sleeves, a most entertaining evening,” said the mayor.
The company website explains Shen Yun is entirely non-profit and independent of the Chinese regime, and enjoys the artistic freedom of New York, enabling it to now bring these ancient traditions to the stage.
“I think we are very lucky we live in Australia where we tolerate all sorts of different views as long as it’s not hatred. I just think we are very very fortunate and I feel very sorry for those people especially in China, that don’t have that luxury ... I think that being able to see it in our marvellous theatre here was a great experience,” said Mayor Rolond.
Over its past 60 years of rule, the communist regime has treated traditional Chinese values “centered on the idea of harmony between heaven and earth” as a threat to its existence, according to the company website.
“I think there are a lot of people in society today who seem to be persecuted and I just feel unless some of us stand up for them, they will continue to be persecuted, so I am really impressed with what you are doing,” said the mayor.
“There are so many different cultures within this planet earth, and that I think we should all have tolerance to every one of them, I think it’s good and truthful, honest and compassionate, yes I love it!”
“You gain a lot from this show, the spiritual aspect, the various other things that you gain from this, so it was really marvellous. I enjoyed every bit.”
“I had a most enjoyable evening and I think it’s tremendous to be able to see these traditional dancing performed so well,” said the mayor.
The lady mayoress was very pleased to see Shen Yun perform in Adelaide.
“It has been a privilege. We better tell everybody. Put it on Facebook.”
Reporting by NTD, Jianguo Wu 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.
