NEWARK, N.J.— Police Chief Matthew Kuhn and his wife, Victoria, an educator, enjoyed a beautiful evening at Shen Yun Performing Arts. The company delivered its third of six consecutive performances at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 2.
Based in New York, Shen Yun artists are masters of classical Chinese dance, an ancient and highly expressive art form dating back thousands of years.
Unlike the modern, military-influenced styles often seen in China today, the company preserves and performs this tradition in its most authentic form, as it was originally passed down through generations.
“It was beautiful in how they tied in the faith to it,” Mr. Kuhn shared. “It seems like the ending really focuses on spirituality and redemption by finding that deity or that connection to godliness, if you will. I thought it was beautiful.”
Tragically, within just a few decades of the Communist Party’s violent rise to power, these beliefs were systematically erased and replaced with atheism. The artists aim to revive and share with the world the glory and beauty of China’s divinely inspired cultural heritage.
For Mr. Kuhn, Shen Yun’s message is loud and clear.
“You have to have less material things and more divinity in your life,” he said. “They show that through the connection to [the divine] and that repeated throughout the show. I like how they brought it all together at the end.”
“Hopefully, through shows and news and dance, there could be better messaging and perhaps some enlightenment in China, which leads to a little more freedom. … The message that was conveyed in the dance today was just beautiful.”
