MILWAUKEE---“I feel rejuvenated. It was wonderful. I think it was very sensational, and love all the colors,” Karen Pichler said after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts with her friend Janice at the Milwaukee Theater on Feb. 20.
The performance was at once soothing and sensational for Ms. Pichler.
“Sensational, because it kept bringing out my senses. It just enhanced that to me, for some reason. I don’t know if it was all the colors, or the activity, and the stars flying around, I just enjoyed it so much,” Ms. Pichler said. And also, “it was serene, like serenity. It was very graceful.”
Ancient Chinese believed music had the power to heal. The Shen Yun composers, in composing and arranging music that uses both Western and Chinese instruments, are cognizant of this philosophy and work to bring out the soul of the music.
The music is tailored to the classical Chinese dances, which range from classic stories, ancient myths, historical events, to happenings in China today. The New York-based company’s mission is to revive the authentic traditional Chinese culture, through the arts.
As Shen Yun’s website explains, China was once a land that believed its culture was divinely inspired. People believed in principles such as good is rewarded and evil is punished, and reverence for the divine. Ms. Pichler said she felt similarly, seeing themes of big ideas like the Creator and the universe, and virtues like humility, delivered through beauty.
Ms. Pichler said regardless of religion or culture she felt it was a universal teaching to “treat your neighbor as you'd treat yourself,” and that there is more beyond this life; in her case, and as she saw in the Chinese culture, that was heaven.
With how the world is changing now, many people are turning toward the dark side, she said, regardless of culture. But Shen Yun brought light.
