KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—The dance performance that has advertised itself as “China before communism” on billboards nationwide arrived at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum this Saturday afternoon to perform ancient legends onstage.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has been praised across the globe for its splendid production value and resonant messages of hope and goodness in mankind.
“We’ve been to other shows, but [Shen Yun] was really one of the most elegant and majestic that I could possibly see,” Jody Harris, who runs a courier service, told media sponsor The Epoch Times after the performance. “We will be annual participants.”
“For me as a traditional American, I had no idea about the [pre-communist] culture that actually existed in those stories,” Mr. Harris said. “So I found that amazing.”
The ancient culture Shen Yun seeks to revive includes spirituality, since religion once flourished in the Middle Kingdom but was suppressed under the officially atheist communist regime. Shen Yun opens with a scene of the Creator in heaven, who leads an entourage of deities to Earth to play out 5,000 years of Chinese history.
“I just found it amazing to know that there is a group of individuals that love the art, and also they believe as well,” Mr. Harris said. “We know what would happen to Christians and believers to openly say that in some parts of China and the rest of the world.”
Shen Yun’s baritones and sopranos, who sing in between some dance segments, lend their voice to lyrics that mention that atheism is evil and human beings were once divine ones in heaven.
Mr. Wilcox’s wife, Sandra Wilcox, a teacher, aired a similar opinion. “The fact that there is only one Creator, that was really beautiful,” she said. “And that atheism and evolution is not the way to go. So, yes, that inspired me.”
“Those are some of the fruits of the Spirit, actually. You know, kindness, goodness,” he said. “And so those are things that we all need more of, right?”
