“The artistry, the skill of the dancers, the level of the choreography; that’s all so artistically beautiful and impressive. But one of the overarching themes I love about Shen Yun is just the celebration of life, celebration of goodness, and spirituality and optimism of it, because it’s keeping alive the pre-communist Chinese culture and traditions of thousands of years, which is so important to have.”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 “China before communism.”
“I think it’s very unfortunate and very sad and tragic that you have a regime that wants to squelch or even persecute people that want to express their artistry, their spiritualism, their faith,” Mr. Capaldi said. “If anything, that is one of the greatest strengths in China, and should be celebrated, it should be uplifted.
“To try to censor and control and not have that be out for the people is very, very unfortunate. And then to persecute people is terrible.”
As a Christian, Mr. Capaldi appreciated the spiritual elements in Shen Yun’s performance, which come from the spiritual teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhist that make the foundations of traditional Chinese culture.
“I’m Christian, so I believe in the gospel Jesus Christ, who’s messages of loving each other, loving life, loving God, living in harmony with your planet, your fellow people, helping your fellow people, a lot of those themes were expressed in the show today.
“And I am very happy when I see anything that’s promoting a positive belief in God and faith … because I think that’s at the core of a people and a healthy society.”
“If you haven’t come and seen Shen Yun, please come down. You will not be disappointed.
“From a pure musical, theatrical production level,[it] is very, very enjoyable and very high calibre. And then from the message that it’s promoting and the content, it’s very uplifting and positive. And it’s for all people; it’s for senior citizens down to little toddlers.”
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
