MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Robert Benjamin, perhaps best known as an adviser to the late Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, says he felt that watching Shen Yun Performing Arts was almost therapeutic.
“People sit in peace, and you notice that in the audience,” he said. “They’re spellbound.”
Mr. Benjamin said he had seen Shen Yun before, “found it very enlightening,” and decided to bring his granddaughter Kelli Simms to a performance. The two saw Shen Yun at the Living Arts Centre on the evening of March 23.
“It’s a beautiful show, and when you think of the spirituality aspect of it, it’s very enlightening in terms of getting to know other cultures,” Ms. Simms 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 through music and dance.
The performance has come to use the tagline “China before communism,” as it was only after the communist regime took power in 1949 that the divinely inspired culture was replaced with communist campaigns to root out its traditional heritage.
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Mr. Benjamin and Ms. Simms both noted the sad loss of that traditional culture and said Shen Yun’s performance was “an eye-opener” that was both heartbreaking and uplifting.
“It is different, but it is all very, very spiritually uplifting,” Mr. Benjamin said.
With reporting by Andrew Chen.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
