BENTONVILLE, Ark.—As the Director of Visual & Performing Arts for Bentonville School District, Marty Reynolds oversees the arts education of some 20,000 students, and liases with the arts communities to seek out what is the best.
“It’s very colorful, very dramatic, lots of storytelling. I really enjoyed watching the athleticism of the dancers and the crisp choreography. So it’s really great, really great performance,“ he said, noting the props and long sleeves in some of the dances which enhanced expression. ”There’s such an elongation to everything, and the way that the choreography is built, the dance is built. To be able to reflect the costuming and the simulation of water is really powerful.”A trained musician and former band director of universities, Mr. Reynolds, had a “rich appreciation for the Eastern and the Western mix of orchestration, and the erhu.”
“I think there’s a lot of really good historical representation. I think it’s really good for that. I think it would be great for some of our students to be able to see that, to get a lot of the counterbalance to what they oftentimes see in media about what might be happening in China,” said Mr. Reynolds after attending a performance at the Arend Arts Center in Bentonville on Feb. 21.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Formed in 2006, it quickly became a global sensation with its mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. In recent years, this mission has come to be known as one to show China before communism.
Prior to the 1949 communist takeover, wherein traditional culture was uprooted via violent campaigns such as the Cultural Revolution, Chinese civilization was a deeply spiritual one. In fact, the Chinese believed their culture to be a gift from the heavens.
‘Those Things That Unite all Human Beings’
Richard McEwan, who works with foreign exchange students, lived in China for 11 year and in Taiwan for six, and has long held a great appreciation for traditional Chinese culture.The experience was an emotional one, and fulfilling, not only because he had waited a long time to be able to see Shen Yun, but also because the lofty goal of a revival of Chinese civilization that Shen Yun seeks was something Mr. McEwan keenly felt come to life.
“When I was in China, in Xi'an, where the Terracotta Warriors are, my wife and I were teaching at the university, Xibei Gongye Daxue (Northwestern Polytechnical University). And we were not able to talk about certain things to our classmates like Tibet, Taiwan, Tiananmen Square., things like that—or God—anything like that,” Mr. McEwan said. “Few people understand what’s going on in China.”
“I’ve enjoyed this show tremendously,” he said. “It sometimes makes me very emotional seeing what they’re doing, because they’re each putting forth all their energy to share with us their talent and part of Chinese culture. So I’m very grateful for it.”
Mr. McEwan had known about the conflicts with Taiwan, the persecution of the Tibetan Buddhists, the democracy-seeking Hong Kongers, and students from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. But Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, was new to him.
“I’m now interested in learning more about Falun Dafa, because there’s got to be something good about it, because it’s brought so many people under persecution—and usually only that happens when evil is trying to destroy good,” he said.
“I was very happy that they did that. Especially now when there’s so much lack of God and lack of spirituality. I mean, it’s nice to see that Shen Yun is here to promote those things that unite all human beings,” Mr. McEwan said.
“Because it brings out the truth. And that truth will set us free,” said Mr. Montford, who has studied Chinese history himself. “They’re showing history, and how humanity always leans on and needs and must have the faith that we were created for something more important than just the communist thought process.”
“But with great hope, you see the truth being brought about. And hopefully that will set us free,” he said.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
