SAN ANTONIO—Not many performing arts companies can claim to have stood up to an authoritarian communist regime and survived—fewer still have the vision of ushering in a cultural renaissance after being suppressed.
On Saturday, when Shen Yun Performing Arts danced onstage in San Antonio, Texas, theatergoers saw a culture “almost lost” rising from the ashes of China’s devastating cultural revolution in the 1960s. Keith Gutterson, a financial analyst who saw Shen Yun at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, called it a “rebirth.”
“It’s trying to bring that goodness out instead of having people keep it in and suppress it,” he said. “I thought it was outstanding.”
“The show was terrific,” said wife Valerie Gutterson, an attorney. “It was good to see that the artists felt free to express themselves.”
The New York-based dance company, now 20 years old, is composed mainly of American-born Chinese as well as expats who were persecuted for their religious beliefs in mainland China. Forming in 2006, Shen Yun began its mission to revive traditional values around the world, using the universal medium of classical Chinese dance.
“I know a lot about Russia and the Soviet Union, but very little about China,” said Joe Tiemann, a former Air Force commander who saw the same show Saturday. “For us who know so little about China, to learn about Chinese culture, and history, and tradition, and the art, and the music, and the philosophy; it’s all wonderful!”
“Communism does nothing but strip a culture of its roots, its foundations,” Richard Reeser, a retired healthcare administrator, said. “I think the persecution is unfortunate, but it’s a direct result of communism.”
“It’s just so graceful the way that they just float across the stage,” said Reeser’s wife, Lavonne, speaking of the female dancers wearing their long, flowing sleeves. She also mentioned one of Shen Yun’s highlights, its patented interaction between the performers and the animated backdrop on stage.
“All the graphics where they pop out of the screen are very cool,” she said.
