SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘A Beautiful Performance With an Important Message,’ Says Member of Parliament

Apr 02, 2023

TORONTO, Canada—By the end of the first half, Member of Parliament Daniel Muys already had plenty of good things to say about Shen Yun Performing Arts, which he watched at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts on April 2.

“It’s been wonderful,” said Mr. Muys. “I think it’s a beautiful performance with an important message.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Now with eight equally sized companies touring the world simultaneously, Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and to give its audiences a glimpse of pre-communist China.

Shen Yun’s program includes story-based dances, some of which are based in modern-day China and depict the communist government’s persecution of followers of faith. Mr. Muys said that Shen Yun’s performance was also a way “for people to understand the human rights abuses that are taking place in China today.”

“I think there’s a rich history,” said Mr. Muys, commenting on pre-communist China. “And you see that, obviously, in the dance and the music and the performances we’re seeing today. Unfortunately, under the Beijing communist regime, we’re not seeing that today. As Canadians, we’ve always stood up for human rights and freedoms on the world stage, and we will continue to do so.”

Mr. Muys said that Shen Yun’s performance was very good quality.

“I think it’s a strong performance. I think the visuals in the background, in addition to the dancing and performance and costumes … [was] quite interesting.”

“The music is phenomenal,” Mr. Muys added, saying that Shen Yun’s live orchestra is “obviously a world-class orchestra.”

Mr. Muys also acknowledged the importance of Shen Yun’s mission to revive traditional values.

“I think it’s important because … as a society, we should always be remembering our history and our past,” he said. “I think that obviously, whatever their faiths and traditions that people have that is important in their lives, that should be respected and should be continued to [be] passed on from generation to generation.”

Finally, to the performers, Mr. Muys wanted to say: “Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. Obviously, what we see on stage is perfect and professional, but there’s a lot of hard work that takes place behind the scenes. So, thank you for doing that, and thank you for bringing that to us here and here in Toronto.”

Reporting by Xinxin Teng and Wandi Zhu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.