BOSTON—Jamie Pearce and Karen Biscoe weren’t supposed to be in Boston right before New Year’s Eve—they were supposed to be on the other side of the country. But as luck would have it, a performing arts company Ms. Biscoe had wished to see for years was in the same city on the same day, and the two were able to catch a performance of
Shen Yun Performing Arts as 2022 wound down.
“
Historically, it’s incredibly eye-opening. But the music and the costumes and the emotions that you see through the dancers, it’s like nothing else I’ve ever seen before. It has been a tremendous experience and [to get] the exposure to the history of China,” Ms. Biscoe, an executive recruiter, said on Dec. 30 after a
performance at the Boch Center Wang Theatre.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company, and gained that title only a few years after its inception in 2006. Ms. Biscoe and Mr. Pearce certainly agreed; having seen performances all around the world from Vienna to the United States, they gave it top marks.
“You can tell they’re world-class dancers,” Ms. Biscoe said. “The emotion, the energy, the vibrancy of the culture; I think the dancers are absolutely amazing.”
Ms. Biscoe and Mr. Pearce emphasized the importance of what Shen Yun was doing in the world. According to its website, that mission is to revive the beauty and goodness of China before communism.
“It’s a worthwhile mission. There’s just so much to hold on to, there should be a tremendous amount of—and I think there probably is—courage and bravery, and desire and hope that generations to come will be able to see what they have held so close and are trying so hard to preserve,” Ms. Biscoe said.
“Please try and save what we still experience here on Earth from a Chinese perspective. Let’s continue to try to save what we’re being told from our spiritual ancestors that is so important to the
culture today,” she said.
Mr. Pearce said the values and message
Shen Yun brought forth were universal, “a c
ommonality for all of us, really.”“That we’re all good by nature, but maybe corrupted a little bit by being here on this planet a little bit. And you just have to sort of let the good message come through. And I think that comes through the show. It’s great. It’s fantastic,” said Mr. Pearce, vice president of an electronics company.
The experience was personal as well; Ms. Biscoe mentioned a specific story-based
dance that included the theme of meditation, which has been a big part of her life for over a decade.
“Meditation has touched my life tremendously. I’ve been meditating diligently, every day for 12 years. So I understand the importance of meditation. So for me, that dance was really important. And it was kind of a pivotal point for me in all the performances so far, that the message is to continue. This is your spiritual connection to the other side,” she said.
Reporting by NTD.
