FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Author and executive coach, Mr. Day, and his wife were immersed in the Shen Yun Performing Arts presentation held at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 31.
“It was fabulous, fabulous. Love the language, love the colors, love the music,” Mr. Day said of the New York-based dance company at intermission.
Shen Yun was founded by a group of talented artists who came together in 2006 and decided on a mission to reawaken China’s ancient traditional heritage—desecrated by 60 years of communist rule. This culture is depicted through a series of mini dramas telling of myths and beloved legends.
Digital backdrops become magical windows to different realms, reads the website. “From vast open grasslands in one dance to the stately elegance of Tang Dynasty pavilions in another; from dusty yellow battlegrounds to tropical beaches to Himalayan peaks to picturesque scenery of the Yellow River Delta—the digital projection infinitely expands and transforms the stage.”
The images delighted Mr. Day and his wife who works alongside her husband.
One dance in particular, The Steadfast Lotus left the couple pondering the importance of different values.
“The value of freedom, the value of freedom and how everybody needs it—the importance of spirituality how everybody needs it, regardless of the culture. And the beauty of China,” Mr. Day said. “Everyone has the right to freedom, but not everyone has it.”
The dance shows on a street in China today where people are practicing Falun Dafa. The practitioners of this spiritual meditation discipline, also known as Falun Gong, have been persecuted in China for over a decade. Among them is a mother who gives her daughter a beautiful banner decorated with a lotus flower and three words that form the tenets of their faith: “Truth, Compassion, Tolerance.” This perfect moment is shattered when Communist party police arrive to take the mother away.
Mrs. Day was particularly touched by the Shen Yun dance in the way it was portrayed.
“I guess the beauty, the strength, the need for expression, and freedom. In one of the performances we saw the mom taken away. We saw the pain, the struggle, the hurt, and then the faith, and reconnection, so that was touching.”
She said she definitely enjoyed the Shen Yun presentation and would recommend the performance to others.
“It' beautiful, it’s educational. It’s definitely educational because there are things I am learning now that I didn’t know before.”
Reporting by Edie Bassen and Raiatea Tahana-Reese
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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.
