Shen Yun ‘Opens Your Mind’

“Young people have got to see this,” says retired teacher and civic leader about Shen Yun.
Shen Yun ‘Opens Your Mind’
Mr. and Mrs. Richardson attend a performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts at Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 6, 2013. (Jane Wang/The Epoch Times)
3/7/2013
Updated:
10/1/2015

Retired teacher and civic leader stresses the value for young people to see Shen Yun: “It’s transforming … and it opens your mind.”

<a><img class="wp-image-1769425" title="SandraRichardsonTheaterDonor" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/SandraRichardsonTheaterDonor.jpg" alt="Mr. and Mrs. Richardson attend a performance of Shen Yun" width="385" height="369"/></a>
Mr. and Mrs. Richardson attend a performance of Shen Yun

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A couple of dedicated theater sponsors were so impressed with a performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts that they want to bring in young students to see the show.

“Young people have got to see this,” said Mrs. Sandra Richardson, a retired teacher and leader of several civic organizations in Albuquerque.

Mrs. Richardson and her husband, Cliff, are long-time sponsors of Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque, where Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company completed its first showing in New Mexico on March 6.

Shen Yun is a classical Chinese dance and music company from New York, dedicated to reviving the traditional heritage and culture of China. Since its inception, seven years ago, three dance companies, accompanied by an orchestra that combines Western and Eastern instruments, tour the world sharing the artistic and inner values of Chinese civilization.

“It’s beautiful ... absolutely exquisite!” said Mrs. Richardson.

Mrs. Richardson has a deep affinity for Chinese culture and was glad to have experienced an authentic representation on stage.

“I love everything Chinese,” she said.

Through performing arts, Shen Yun aims to restore the inner essence of Chinese culture with its traditional spiritual values, principles such as respect for the divine, compassion, wisdom, and propriety, according to its website.

Six decades of communist party rule in China forced an atheistic worldview on the Chinese people, in an attempt to break them away from their millennia-old beliefs.

Mrs. Richardson remembered those political campaigns in China and the impact it had on her: “When I was studying ... and we were learning about the culture, it just broke my heart that it was being destroyed.”

While Shen Yun is currently not allowed to perform in China, more and more Mainland Chinese travel to Taiwan to attend the sold-out performances there. Others hope to get a glimpse of Shen Yun from the DVDs circulated in China, according to the Shen Yun website.

Mrs. Richardson stressed the value for young people of being exposed to traditional Chinese culture through experiencing Shen Yun.

“It’s transforming … and it just opens your mind,” she said.

Mrs. Richardson, as a long-time member, will ask the theater to let young people see Shen Yun, as part of a program that sponsors over 50,000 students each year to attend live performances.

Mr. Cliff Richardson, who works as an awarded energy engineer at the local Kirtland Air Force Base and board member on several city initiatives, appreciated the cooperation among the dancers.

“I liked … they’re all working together,” said Mr. Richardson, who had studied ballet for 10 years.

Many audience members regularly comment on the synergy and coordination between the dancers that appears to them to move as one body.

Mr. Richardson was pleasantly surprised about the orchestra. “The thing that was most unique that I didn’t expect was the orchestra and the kind of music,” he said.

The Shen Yun Orchestra, as the first of its kind, blends Western philharmonic orchestra with traditional Chinese instruments, like the two-string erhu.

“The sound produced is uniquely pleasing to the ear. The ensemble at once expresses both the grandeur of a Western orchestra and the distinct sensibilities of China’s 5,000-year-old civilization,” states the Shen Yun website.

Shen Yun “must come back next year and every year after,” said Mrs. Richardson, hoping young people get a chance to see the performance.

Reporting by Jane Wang and Christian Watjen

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company is scheduled to perform at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona, March 10, and at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Las Vegas, March 15–17. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.

The Epoch Times is the proud sponsor of Shen Yun. The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.