Mayor of Worcester, Mass., Proclaims Shen Yun Day

Mayor Joseph C. O'Brien has welcomed New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts to Worcester, Mass., by issuing a proclamation declaring Feb. 10, 2011, Shen Yun Day.
Mayor of Worcester, Mass., Proclaims Shen Yun Day
2/8/2011
Updated:
2/9/2011
Mayor Joseph C. O’Brien has welcomed New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts to Worcester, Mass., by issuing a proclamation declaring Feb. 10, 2011, Shen Yun Day. In the proclamation, Mayor O’Brien wished to “encourage all residents to recognize and participate in its observance.”

Thursday, Feb. 10, is when Shen Yun returns to the city for a performance at the newly restored, historic Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts as part of the company’s 2011 world tour. Shen Yun debuted in Worcester last year at The Hanover Theatre. It was the first time the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company visited a Massachusetts city other than Boston.

The proclamation also mentions the sponsoring organization, The Falun Dafa Association of New England, for being “an invaluable facilitator of traditional Chinese culture and positive values; and … reviving traditional Chinese performing arts by sponsoring Shen Yun Performing Arts; and … thereby enriching traditional Chinese culture in the community.”

Shen Yun’s mission, according to its website, is to “revive the spirit of traditional Chinese culture.” Particularly during the Cultural Revolution, much of the country’s traditional culture was destroyed. “A performance by Shen Yun is a presentation of traditional Chinese culture as it once was: a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from the five millennia of Chinese civilization,” says the website.

At the core of Shen Yun shows is classical Chinese dance, described as having “a vast training system.” It is a dance form that is still mostly new to the West, the website explains. “You could say it carries the essence of Chinese cultural expression in its movements, postures, and aesthetics.”

Officials from around Massachusetts have sent greetings to Shen Yun, including U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Scott Brown, U.S. Reps. Edward Markey, James McGovern, and Stephen Lynch, state Rep. Bruce Ayers, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, and the Boston City Council.

Boston’s Citi Performing Arts Wang Theatre will be the site of four performances on Feb. 11–13.

Shen Yun consists of three touring companies, each with its own full orchestra comprising Eastern and Western instruments. The Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will be performing in Worcester, while the Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company finishes its Hartford, Conn., performances on Feb. 9 and 10 at The Bushnell and prepares to take the stage in Boston at the Citi Performing Arts Wang Theatre Feb. 11–13. The third company, the Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company, is currently in Sydney, Australia.

For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org