Mile Savic enjoyed Shen Yun at the Living Arts Theatre in Mississauga, Canada, on March 23, 2024. (NTD)
MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Mile Savic, a doctor, heard about Shen Yun Performing Arts through a friend.
“He said, go see it. It’s worth it. It’s something that Western culture cannot produce at this point,” Dr. Savic recalled. And his friend was right.
“I love it,” he said during intermission of the performance at the Living Arts Centre the evening of March 23. “It’s beautiful, it’s so rich in colors, in symbology. ... The message is amazing.”
Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, founded by a group of leading artists who came together in New York in 2006 with a shared mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. It was a divinely inspired culture centered on values like reverence for heaven and the five cardinal virtues.
Alexandra Savic and Mile Savic at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Canada, on March 23, 2024. (Teng Dongyu/The Epoch Times)
Dr. Savic felt the message was “that heavens are watching over us.”
“The message of peace and the constant fight between good and evil ... the whole thing was really touching,” he said. He enjoyed seeing some of that message articulated by a bel canto singer, as well as a story about Falun Dafa, a spiritual meditation practice highly popular in China but persecuted by the communist regime.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, teaches truth, compassion, and tolerance, and Dr. Savic said the depiction of it was inspiring and conveyed to him something “activating the spirit ... connecting with the heavens.”
This spirituality is needed, he added, because the “consumerism” of modern society “doesn’t lead really to progress of the whole planet, rather regressing.”
“So [Shen Yun] is beautiful ... it’s really something extraordinary,” he said.
Stories With Depth
Also seeing Shen Yun for the first time was Cindy Wroblewski, a real estate investor and consultant, who felt deeply about the performance she witnessed.
“The stories are beautiful,” Ms. Wroblewski said. “They’re heartwarming, they’re pure, they’re natural, they’re historic, and it’s beautiful stories and beautiful colors and vibrancy. It’s just beautiful.”
“They’re just stories about life and how their struggles and accomplishments and how we all grieve; and we have issues that we overcome them; and it’s a lot, very deep if you listen to it, the story,“ she continued. ”Death, love, struggle, accomplishments, achievements, you know, breaking down barriers, walls, living in life, in general, business. I mean, there was just everything so far was very rich.”
Cindy Wroblewski (R) with her husband at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Living Arts Theatre in Mississauga, Canada, on March 23, 2024. (Yi Ling/The Epoch Times))
“It’s all very fresh,” she said.
Ms. Wroblewski said she was not familiar with ancient Chinese culture, but clearly there were commonalities and universal themes—that all could draw from.
“We need to be more in tune with our ancient cultures and ancient times and the history that brought us to where we are today,“ she said. ”We are where we are today because of our ancestors.”
She hoped more people, especially young people, would see Shen Yun.
“They don’t have that [history], so performances like this, I think, are crucial and important,” she said. “For us, in general, it’s beautiful.”
“Each one of us is going to take a little piece of tonight and go home, and it’s going to resonate with us, and we’re going to learn from it,” she said.
