SAN JOSE, Calif.—Shen Yun Performing Arts was a display of excellence from the inside out, said Jeff Hagen, a doctor, who saw a performance at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 27.
“I’m in awe at what I see,” said Mr. Hagen. “I think the show is very well done and spectacular.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
“I’m not a dancer, but I recognize that that takes a tremendous amount of commitment and discipline, talent. The dancers themselves, but also those who train them, also all of the costumes, everything that goes into it, the orchestra,” he said.
“I think it’s something that it just sort of demonstrates a pursuit of not just excellence to be recognized, but excellence in the pursuit of being the best you possibly can be, not just to impress people, but just because it honors the best that we are capable o inside and out, physically and spiritually.”
He felt Shen Yun was “spiritually uplifting.”
“It makes you want to do better and be better in many ways,” Mr. Hagen said.
As Shen Yun explains in its program and materials, the traditional Chinese culture they seek to revive on stage was a spiritual one, said to believe divinely inspired. The five millennia of China before communism was a rich legacy filled with stories, lessons, and principles stemming from a way of life that prioritized harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind.
That traditional culture is very much relevant today, according to Mr. Hagen.
“I think more people should see it because it’s not just very well performed, but the message behind it is important for everybody,” he said.
“It’s a unifying message,” he said.
“And what this portrays is eternal. Something that pertains everywhere, every time, every place,” he said.
“Why do I think they should come? ... To be uplifted,” Mr. Hagen added.
“It’s not just a couple of hours of entertainment. It gives you something to appreciate, something for your mind and your soul to feed on, to chew on, so to speak ... It’s something you can carry with you and in you.”
He said that many people of influence may be aware but silent because they have business interests in China. In Shen Yun, he saw an impetus for change.
“There should be a critical mass of people that may say, ‘You know what, why are we putting up with this? We can be agents of change. We can be agents of positive change.’ So that’s why I appreciate this,” he said.
Mr. Hagen said he had been talking with others about Shen Yun, and they all thought the message universal. “Whether you’re a Christian or a Buddhist or even somebody who’s not sure what you believe in, it gives you at least something to at least want to believe in, and maybe that’s a good start.”
