Boston Lawyer Says Shen Yun Provides ‘Values That All of Us Can Share and Live By’
Dec 31, 2023
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Frank and Maura Doyle at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Boch Center in Boston, Mass., on Dec. 31, 2023. (Frank Liang/The Epoch Times)
BOSTON, Mass.—Shen Yun has successfully concluded their final performance at the Boch Center on Dec. 31 for the 2024 season.
Frank Doyle, lawyer and former CEO of the Massachusetts Department of Public Hospitals, and his wife Maura Doyle, clerk of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, attended the performance for the first time and thought it was absolutely fabulous.
“I loved the beauty of the dance, the beauty of the costumes, the colors, the music, the storyline behind all of it, and the technology that they’ve added in … it’s just fabulous,” Mr. Doyle said.
Mrs. Doyle was enamored by the gentility of the female dancers, saying that their “gracefulness is spectacular!”
Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. According to the company’s website, Shen Yun has preserved the true aesthetics of this classical dance system—the way it has been passed down from antiquity—and presents this authentic culture in its purest form.
Alongside the talented dancers, the company features a one-of-a-kind orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra, a patented animated backdrop technology that allows for seamless interaction between the dancers on stage and the background scenery, and colorful handmade costumes.
“Each [vignette] … gave us a different outlook, a different viewpoint, a different insight into the Chinese culture over the millennia,” Mr. Doyle said.
What moved the Doyles the most in the performance was the story-based dance that takes place in modern China about the persecution of Falun Dafa, a meditation and spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.
“It makes us think about the history of the Chinese … that it has moved [away] from a very traditional, richly traditional, faith-filled culture,” Mr. Doyle said. “And I see parallels with American culture doing the same thing.”
“I think it’s critical, not just for their culture, but with billions of Chinese in this world, that it can help all of us reflect on our own cultures and what we need to do to restore more tradition and basic values that all of us can share and live by,” he added.
A Reminder to Be Kind
Selectman Juan Roman and Linda Roman attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Boch Center in Boston, Mass., on Dec. 31, 2023. (Weiyong Zhu/The Epoch Times)
Juan Roman, III, Selectman (Mayor) of Chaplin, Connecticut; and Linda Roman, horse trainer and behaviorist, also attended Shen Yun for the first time at the Boch Center on Dec. 31.
Traveling from Connecticut to see the performance, Mr. Roman said that Shen Yun was “above and beyond what we were expecting … the overall production is great!”
Mrs. Roman said the dancers were incredible and he was impressed with the choreography and synchronization.
Not knowing what to expect when attending the performance, the Romans said they were pleasantly surprised by the company’s mission to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture.
The age-old culture has been on the brink of extinction since the communist party seized power in China in 1949. Shen Yun says its performance this year demonstrates “China before communism.”
Despite all of the countries and cities where Shen Yun has performed, they are still not allowed in China. It is only outside of China, through dance, music, and legends, that Shen Yun has sparked a cultural renaissance.
“It brings to light things that people don’t realize in their everyday life—they don’t realize what it’s like in other countries [or] what it’s like with other people in our country,” Mrs. Roman said.
“I think shows like this are a very important reminder,” she added. “We need to be kind, we need to be aware, we need to do what we can to help.”
Enjoying the message from the performance, Mr. Roman said, “There is always hope for the right people to do the right things.”
Reporting by Frank Liang, Weiyong Zhu, and Jennifer Schneider.
