Texas Musician Says Shen Yun Inspires a Cultural Revival
Dec 31, 2023
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Perry and Jennifer Allison with their children at Shen Yun Performing Arts at AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas, on Dec. 30, 2023. (Yeawen Hung/The Epoch Times)
DALLAS—Texas patrons enthusiastically welcomed Shen Yun Performing Arts for their second performance of the 2024 season at the AT&T Performing Arts Center on Dec. 30.
Business owner Perry Allison, his wife Jennifer, and their two children attended the performance for the first time and loved it.
“I love it,” Mrs. Allison said. “The kids love it … he loves the sword fighting … she loves all the dresses!”
Mr. Allison was greatly impressed with the perseverance and energy of the dancers.
“The intense discipline that it requires … and then the passion to perform it, night after night, for so long is amazing,” he said.
Since 2006, New York-based Shen Yun has been gracing the world’s stages with a mission to revive China’s traditional culture. On the brink of extinction, the age-old culture has been systematically destroyed through various political campaigns by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Demonstrating “China before communism,” Shen Yun also features story-based dance that sheds light on current human rights atrocities happening in modern China.
Since 1999, the CCP launched a persecution campaign against the spiritual practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, which encourages people to live by the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Its adherents in China have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.
Reflecting on Falun Gong’s persecution by China’s communist state, Mr. Allison commented on the parallels that he sees currently happening in America and thought it was very impactful for a Western audience to understand.
“I think it helps us here in America to understand what to look out for so we don’t fall under the same trap of communism,” he said. “I think that’s the direction that America’s going, unfortunately … so something like this provides awareness.”
Bringing Back Culture
Karl Miller attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 30, 2023. (Sherry Dong/The Epoch Times)
This was Karl Miller’s first time attending a Shen Yun performance and he was deeply impressed with the culture of ancient China, saying it was a reminder to “get back our faith with supreme beings.”
“Making people aware of Falun Gong is also important,” he said, “bringing back culture, bringing back religion … I think we’re losing it in this country as well.”
As a musician who has had 10 years of training in classical piano, Mr. Miller really appreciated Shen Yun’s one-of-a-kind orchestra that blends traditional Chinese instruments into a classical Western orchestra.
“It’s amazing, it’s very well done,” he said. “Brass is my favorite, and … the music has the Chinese taste to it.”
Mr. Miller said Shen Yun’s musicians have inspired him to get back to his music “and play the piano every day.”
Reporting by Yeawen Hung, Sherry Dong, and Jennifer Schneider.
