SAN JOSE, Calif.—Robert Weinmann, neurologist and editor-in-chief of a digital publication, had seen Shen Yun Performing Arts several years ago and decided to return for a performance to celebrate the new year together with his son Paul Robbins.
“I liked it very much,” said Dr. Weinmann at the Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose, California, on Jan. 1 before adding his support for Shen Yun’s
mission.
Formed in New York in 2006, Shen Yun is the world’s premier
classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. In recent years, it’s branded this mission with the tagline “China before communism.”
“We would be better off without it,” Dr. Weinmann agreed, condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s
persecution of people of faith, which began after the party took power only in 1949.
Since the father and son’s first viewing, the production and
stagecraft had become many times more impressive, they said, and they were left inspired by
the performance.“It’s the most awesome audiovisual, surreal presentation,” Mr. Robbins said. “The most surreal, beautiful, extremely sensual, rich, authentic, depicting the coming golden age.”
Mr. Robbins added he’s studied many varied disciplines, and one of his interests is cosmology. History moves in grand cycles, and Shen Yun is depicting a tipping point, he explained.
“They’re bringing out the message of the coming golden age that we’re coming into, and that’s the transition that humanity is in right now, leaving the dark age—we’re at the darkest times of the dark age,” Mr. Robbins said. “
“There’s a new dawn coming, and it’s golden, and this company is bringing that in the most inspiring way. I am so touched by the message and the timeliness of this performance to reach humanity at this time.”
Mr. Robbins said he could see why
Shen Yun cannot perform in China, where the Chinese Communist Party has sought to root out traditional culture.
“We’ve been in a golden age before, but now we’re at the end of this dark age. And so this is why—the people that want to hold on to the dark age,
communist China, they don’t want this message because they don’t want the golden age. They want to stay in the darkness,” he said.
“I didn’t realize that this performance was all about the divine history of Chinese culture,” he added. “I am absolutely in love with ancient Chinese culture for that reason, and the message of this is one of the most powerful messages that humanity needs to see right now.”
For 5,000 years, China stood as the “Celestial Empire,” and its civilization centered around the principle of
harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind. It was only less than a century ago when the Chinese Communist Party took power and, through violent means, replaced traditional culture with one of atheism and struggle.
Shen Yun’s art, meanwhile, upholds
traditional, universal values like truth, compassion, and forbearance, according to its program book.
“This is really big. It’s way more than just a dance performance,” Mr. Robbins said. “We’re about bringing more love in our connection with the divine back as a consciousness into the human connection. We’re all aspects of God.”
With reporting by Nan Shu.
