Shen Yun Sends a Message of Benevolence, Kindness, and Forgiveness, Says Radio Executive
Feb 23, 2024
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Manuel Cambo enjoyed Shen Yun's evening performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 22, 2024. (Lily Yu/The Epoch Times)
MIAMI—After attending Shen Yun’s evening performance on Feb. 22, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Manuel Cambo, executive radio director and show host, was amazed by the “discipline, uniformity, and grace” of the performers.
He found it fascinating how the dancers were able to express themselves and tell their stories without saying a word.
As a man of faith, Mr. Cambo appreciated the spiritual elements of the show and said it sent a message of benevolence, kindness, and forgiveness.
“We all have to work hard to be kind. It’s easy and convenient to be an atheist. To be kind is to have obedience and sacrifice. I saw [that] today,” he said, adding that he was intrigued by the “discipline of the East as opposed to the West.”
“The West is much more creative, and the East is much more traditional in organization, symmetry, and uniformity.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in 2006 by elite Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist regime. The company’s mission is to revive China’s 5,000 years of divinely inspired traditions that were forced to the brink of extinction by decades of communist rule and the spread of atheism.
Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s top classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception in 2006, it has grown to include eight equally sized companies that perform simultaneously in packed venues around the world.
Through watching Shen Yun, Mr. Cambo found that even though our culture is different, “the symbolism of divinity is the same worldwide.”
“[In my faith,] I believe that there is one God that manifests goodness and kindness among men,” he explained.
“What I like about [Chinese spirituality] is that we’re all divine. Everybody comes from heaven to manifest itself on earth. It’s completely opposite, which is fascinating.”
Mr. Cambo also loved the solo musical performance by the Chinese erhu—an ancient, two-stringed instrument capable of expressing a wide range of emotions.
“To have that music coming out of those two strings—it was all in the talent of the fingers. That’s fun, that’s beautiful. Wow.”
His takeaway from the show is that “all of us are manifesting the divine.”
“We just have to make the effort to be kind,” he added. “[Shen Yun showed that the two extremes of the world—the West and the East—have one thing in common: [we are all] striving for divinity, and I think that expressed itself.”
Mihai and Livia Vrasmasu attended Shen Yun's evening performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 22, 2024. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)
Also in the audience were attorney Mihai Vrasmasu and Cardiac sonographer Livia Vrasmasu. For them, Shen Yun’s story dance depicting ongoing human rights issues in present-day China hits close to home.
“You may tell by our names that we’re not born in this country. We grew up in communism, so it’s actually very nice to see the message in [Shen Yun] and to teach the American audience what communism is all about and how it can influence people’s ability to live the types of lives that they want to live,” Mr. Vrasmasu said.
“It was very well delivered, and hopefully, the American audience gets a taste for it and understands. It was important that [Shen Yun] made the point that this isn’t just something that happened years and years ago—it’s happening right now. Hopefully, with more performances like this, more people will become aware, and things can ultimately change.”
However, the artists are currently forbidden by the Chinese Communist Party from performing in China.
Though this is their first experience with Shen Yun, they are already planning a return trip to see the performance again next year.
“We’re not familiar with Chinese tradition—all the wonderful stories, the culture—this was really a great opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the richness of the 5,000 years plus of history,” Mr. Vrasmasu said.
“It was phenomenal. We would recommend it to all of our friends.”
He also found it interesting when Shen Yun’s bilingual host introduced classical Chinese dance as being one of the oldest and most complex dance forms in the world.
“They mentioned how a lot of the techniques used in this traditional dancing have been adopted by Western dance. I saw [some of that] influences,” Mr. Vrasmasu expressed.
“Thinking to Russian dancing and even ballet—you see some of those movements in this, and you kind of say, ‘Oh, yes. Those were, in fact, derived from this ancient art style. It was amazing.”
To all the performers, he’d like to say, “God bless them.”
“They did an amazing job. Good luck to all of them. We feel truly inspired and privileged to have seen such a wonderful performance. Keep up the amazing work.”
Reporting by Lily Yu, Linda Jiang, and Jennifer Tseng.
