MILWAUKEE—“I learned a lot about China, the culture. I feel smarter now than when I walked in here,” said Michael Tomaro, a Ph.D. clinical psychologist, after to watching Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Milwaukee Theatre on March 5.
“I appreciate the Chinese culture more now than before,” he said.
Shen Yun takes the audience through 5,000 years of culture from ancient times to the present, with beloved myths, legends and history. It does so with short story-based dance dramas and opera-style soloist performances.
Dr. Tomaro was impressed with Shen Yun’s performance. “It was very well done—the talent, the energy of all the young people. I can’t say more than that. I'll give it a 10.”
Shen Yun has four touring companies that travel the world simultaneously to revitalize an almost lost traditional culture inspired by the heavens. It was almost completely destroyed by the atheism of the Chinese communist rule, particularly during the Cultural Revolution.
Shen Yun is based in New York, thus having the freedom to express this spiritual, traditional culture to world audiences, except, that is, in China.
“I think that there’s nothing better for a culture [than] to try to show the world who they are. It transcends. This is the way that we are really are going to achieve world peace by doing things this way,” Dr. Tomaro said.
Dr. Tomaro could see similarity to traditional Chinese culture and his culture. “All the way to faith in God. There is a little difference … both cultures are going in the same direction. We have one goal in mind—to get to heaven. They’re very similar spiritually—different language, different ways of expressing yourself, one soul.”
“Classy, everything was classy from the beginning to the end,” Dr. Tomaro said.“Well choreographed, well thought out, nicely presented, hard-working people, what’s not to like?”
He ended by saying that what Shen Yun has to offer the world today is “cultural awareness.”
Reporting by Catherine Wen and Cat Rooney
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.
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.
