BOISE, Idaho—Ralph May, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul in southwest Idaho, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts on the evening of Feb. 18.
Mr. May said, “The performers were wonderful. I had no idea people could move like that and be able to stand up afterward. It was a truly exciting performance.”
Mr. May said Shen Yun brought him closer to Chinese culture. “I thought it was amazing; I learned a lot. I felt very, very connected to the Chinese culture through that performance.”
“Honestly, it was very fascinating to learn about the whole show. I didn’t know a lot about Shen Yun before coming to the show and so it was powerful to learn about the whole story behind the persecution and the exodus from China.”
Shen Yun, he said, is exposing communism and it’s good “to try to show the power of that in the rest of the world, to show what communist China has closed down on and is discouraging—persecuting. Discouraging isn’t a strong enough word.”
Prior to communism, the Chinese believed their culture was a gift from the divine.
“It stirred me very deeply. It captured me down to my soul in many ways, just the power of the movement, back and forth, and the powerful story that was being told in each one of the segments.”
Mr. May noted how modern life has turned people from the divine.
“I think that the piece where the cellphones were out was a very powerful signal, and caused people to stop and think, because you could see yourself in that very piece. You could see the detachment we have from the divine, through our own devices and all of the distractions that exist in our modern world.”
“[It’s] a powerfully moving show that resonates with my very soul,” Mr. May said.
