TORONTO—For years, Adrienne Simmons had wanted to see the dancers of Shen Yun Performing Arts onstage. But in March, she was forced to scuttle her birthday plans to attend the classical Chinese dance production after a series of bomb threats that police said were unfounded prompted the venue to cancel the show.
On Friday evening, Ms. Simmons finally got her wish. The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts opened its doors to the company for a rescheduled summer run following a high-profile standoff over security.
“I’m here with my daughter,” Ms. Simmons, a local business owner, told The Epoch Times during the intermission. “She called me two weeks ago and said, ‘Guess what, they’re coming back to Toronto, do you want to see it?‘ I said, ’Absolutely.’”
The company’s performers are also largely adherents of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice heavily persecuted in China by the communist Chinese regime since 1999.
But tonight, all of that friction evaporated when Ms. Simmons and her daughter, Taylor Brown, finally savored the “richness of the Chinese culture.”
“It’s been absolutely beautiful, flawlessly executed, and I just love every single one of the costume changes,” Ms. Simmons said. “It’s been amazing.”
“You can tell they put a lot of time and love and passion into what they’re bringing,” Ms. Brown said, adding that it was “really honorable” that the performers were able to return to Toronto.
“It’s important for people to be able to see what’s going on in China and how [Shen Yun] is not allowed in China,” said Sharon Samsair, a real estate investor who also watched Shen Yun on Friday. “To have us be part of it, it’s touching.”
The Toronto performances run through Sunday at the Four Seasons Centre before the company continues on its global tour. For the organizers and audience members alike, Friday night’s curtain call officially closes the latest efforts to silence these artists onstage.
