PHILADELPHIA—The Miller Theater was alive with excitement when the curtain opened for Shen Yun Performing Arts on May 10. The Thompsons enjoyed many aspects of the performance.
Jerry Thompson, former head of Quality Control for Kellogg’s Cereal, and now a golf teacher at a junior high school, said what he liked most was “The dancing, the culture.”
Michelle Thompson, a public engagement specialist, said she liked “the cultural background, the costumes, and the authenticity. The music is beautiful.”
Mr. Thompson agreed and said the music was “wonderful.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the traditional Chinese culture of 5,000 years, which was almost destroyed by the communist regime.
Mr. Thompson agreed, saying it was “very important” to maintain traditional culture. “My grandparents, my great-great-grandparents, came here from the Czech Republic.
“A lot of the things that they had brought with them were lost over generations. My mother speaks their language, but I didn’t. I go and say to my mother, ‘You should have taught us. Keep that part alive.’ I think that’s important, especially for Chinese.”
Bringing back traditional culture is especially important for the younger generation, according to Mrs. Thompson. “It’s important for children, like the next generations, to keep everything alive in the history of their people,” she said.
An audience favorite is the use of Shen Yun’s patented 3D projected screen that shows performers jump into other dimensions and fly high in the sky. Mrs. Thompson liked it very much.
“That’s the graphics [that use] CGI. I’ve never seen that before,” she said.
“That was really cool,” Mr. Thompson said. “I didn’t expect that.”
Many in the audience were not aware of China’s spiritual values in their ancient culture, especially as the present communist regime promotes atheism and stamps out spiritual belief.
“We are Christian,” Mrs. Thompson said. “So we kind of didn’t know that part was in it. It’s kind of neat to see other ways that people worship, so it is valuable.”
Mr. Thompson saw similarities with religious beliefs in Western culture and the meaning of our life on earth.
“It reminded me a lot, like Christianity, like the scripture: You have God, you have angels, and going to heaven is the purpose of what we live for,” Mr. Thompson said.
He saw that the Shen Yun performance conveys “modesty, spirituality, and just being in peace in the world, and peace with yourself.”
For Mrs. Thompson, the message was “people being, like family, like culture, caring for their elderly, like everybody, different ages together, just staying close together.”
