LOS ANGELES—Alex Villanueva, former sheriff of Los Angeles County, was impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts from beginning to end.
“Breathtaking,” he said after seeing the performance at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Jan. 17.
“I mean the artistry, the skill, professionalism, everyone involved and the musicians, to the different dancers, the choreography, the use of the screen ... very creative,” he said.
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, showing audiences a vision of China before communism.
Mr. Villanueva said he enjoyed the dance—as well as the dancers who seemed to accomplish impossible feats—and the stories told through dance. There were classic tales of good versus evil, perseverance, and good winning out in the end.
Those tales resonated with Mr. Villanueva, whether it was a fictional scene from a humorous episode set in a typical restaurant or a story set in modern-day China, raising awareness of the Chinese communist regime’s persecution of followers of the spiritual discipline Falun Gong, which teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance.
Mr. Villanueva said he had a “warm spot in my heart” for those characters standing up to evil and holding fast to their principles because he could relate to what that takes. “I’ve been fighting bullies in my whole life,” he said.
“It’s heartwarming that people find a way to focus on something to block away all the oppression, all the negative things that a government, Orwellian-type government where there’s only one voice and one thought and everything else is forbidden,” he said, describing the communist regime’s nature as “ugly.” “That’s not human nature to be so oppressed like that.”
He added that he was supportive of Shen Yun’s mission, as well as their continued expression of their faith, and learning that people were meditating and expressing their faith despite the regime’s oppression.
“That warms my heart,” he said. “I'd like to have [the Chinese people] have the chance to see it.”
