SYDNEY—Nancy Cartaghna, a team leader in the financial industry, said she was impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company, performing at Sydney’s iconic Capitol Theatre on Saturday afternoon, April 28.
Ms. Cartaghna said she had been given tickets to the show as a present. She said she “was impressed by everything,” the colours, the dances, the narratives and the history.
Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in 2006 with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture. After more than 60 years of communist rule in China, and especially after the Cultural Revolution, Chinese traditional culture has been all but completely demolished, states the company’s website.
At the heart of the Shen Yun performance is classical Chinese dance, a culture left to us by the ancients who came before us, its beauty should be riches shared by all of humanity, its purity should not be contaminated, explains the website.
Shen Yun’s story-based dances draw upon stories and legends of China’s rich history, from the Yellow Emperor to the Tang and Song dynasties and all the way to modern-day.
Ms. Cartaghna was touched by the dance The Choice, saying she was moved by the reality of the depiction of suppression of belief in China today.
According to the program book, the dance tells the story of two friends who part ways after college. Police recruit the young man and the young lady begins to practice Falun Dafa, following the principles of Truth Compassion and Tolerance. The practice becomes outlawed in China. “When followers peacefully protest on Tiananmen Square, they are brutally beaten by police.” The young man then faces a choice.
Ms. Cartaghna said she would certainly recommend Shen Yun to her friends. “I’d say come and see it, for sure.”
Reporting by Tahnia Smith and Ron Champagne.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world, with a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will perform at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre through May 6.
For more information visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
