NEW YORK—The uplifting and profound themes in Shen Yun Performing Arts’ revival of traditional Chinese culture connected with audience members on April 28.
“I think it was different from the other shows that I’ve seen so far because it has the spiritual message to it,” said Marina Kogan, a piano teacher. “I could see that it was not just the beauty in it, but also some deeper symbolic meaning.”
Ms. Kogan, who studied at the Pedagogical Institute of St. Petersburg, Russia, saw the New York-based Shen Yun at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
Traditional Chinese culture is replete with virtues and values that stem from China’s semi-divine traditional culture. Concepts such as “respect the heavens to know one’s destiny,” and “man and nature must be in balance” gathered deep meaning over thousands of years of history, as did the five cardinal virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness.
China itself was once known as Shen Zhou, or the Divine Land. “This profound name describes a land where deities and mortals coexisted, and a belief that the divine transmitted a rich culture to the people of the earth,” according to Shen Yun’s website.
Ms. Kogan said she understood from the performance that “we are going to return to a different realm at the end, and that this different realm exists, and that we have to strive to touch it—to reach for it.”
Megan Martin, operations manager at Abraham’s Vision, a peace-building organization, said she was “deeply and profoundly touched” by Shen Yun.
“I feel like I’m walking away and something has touched me in a very deep way,” she said. “I could barely watch without being in awe.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Zachary Stieber
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. The next performances in the northeastern United States are in Philadelphia May 3-5. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
