CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.—John Jerman, the president of an office furniture company, attended Shen Yun’s evening performance on Jan. 2 at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium. Mr. Jerman said he was very glad to have come.
“It was fantastic. This was the first time I’ve ever seen [
Shen Yun], and it was spectacular,” he exclaimed.
“I loved the costumes and the dance with graceful sleeves. The singing was incredible, and the orchestra was fantastic—they did an awesome job.”
Shen Yun was
established in 2006 by leading Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of China’s communist regime. Based in New York, the company’s mission is to revive China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired culture that had been destroyed by decades of communist rule.
While Mr. Jerman loved all the pieces, he was especially moved by Shen Yun’s story-dance depicting the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of
Falun Gong—a spiritual meditation whose followers uphold the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.
“I loved what [the dance] talked about—enlightenment and spiritualism—I thought it was a great message. It was just so uplifting—it was wonderful. It was about compassion and being one with the world,” he expressed.
“I think that’s what we really need today because our world is really kind of messed up right now. We could use a little bit more compassion and kindness toward one another—that’s what [
Shen Yun] was about—there is too much division in our country, and we need unity.”
To meet public demand,
Shen Yun has expanded from one to eight equally-sized companies since its inception. Each year, they will return with an entirely new set of programs.
This year, the artists are slated to
perform in over 200 cities across five continents.
Mr. Jerman said his take-home message from
Shen Yun was that there is a better future, a heaven beyond this world, waiting for us. “We’re just on earth for a short time, but we’re here for a purpose,” he added.
“[The show] was fantastic, and it was so great that they’re here, and we got to experience it. I definitely want to come back again next year because I know there’ll be something different.”
Reporting by Frank Xie, Nancy Ma, and Jennifer Tseng.
