NEW YORK—The second day of Shen Yun Performing Arts’ 10-day run at Lincoln Center was met with another round of rave reviews.
One of them came from Marina Kolesnik, owner of Russia’s largest online travel company, who was at the Saturday afternoon show with her daughter.
“We really enjoyed it, it was a very beautiful performance, beautiful costumes,” said Kolesnik, adding that she connected with the show’s original musical score so much she bought a CD at the theater to listen to at home.
Kolesnik describes herself as a lover of Russian ballet, and said her daughter studies dance at Alvin Ailey dance school. After seeing Shen Yun, she felt she understood the deeper significance behind the performances and the meaning they hold in terms of preserving and reviving traditional Chinese culture.
“It’s very unfortunate what’s going on about the culture and spiritual practices in Mainland China,” said Kolesnik, referring to some of Shen Yun’s content that deals with the state-sponsored persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong at the hands of the communist regime in China. She added that as a Russian, she has some personal exposure to the ills of Communism. “Russia has gone through the same thing with the communist regime.”
But Kolesnik said that particularly in light of ongoing persecution and pressure against the Chinese people, she admires the efforts made by Shen Yun Performing Arts to revive traditional Chinese culture.
“I think every little bit helps, allows the culture,” she said.
The spiritual undertones and values and beliefs of traditional Chinese culture, as she saw in the Shen Yun performance, also impacted her.
“Whatever Chinese people can do to preserve the culture, give it to their kids, give it to the Western world, I think it will be very valuable.”
Reporting by Hannah Cai and Genevieve Belmaker
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.
