PITTSBURGH—Theatergoers in Pittsburgh reached a conclusion after watching Shen Yun Performing Arts on Saturday: history should be told, not suppressed by tyrannical regimes. And those who stomp on and rewrite it are doomed.
Gary Miklavic, who sells building materials when he isn’t sitting in theaters, watched with his date as dozens of dancers brought ancient myths from a culture “almost lost” back to life.
However, Miklavic learned from the show’s emcees, who spoke in between dance segments, that Shen Yun’s mission is to remind people of the depth of traditional Chinese culture, and that a dance show like this one is forbidden in mainland China today.
“I think we can’t forget where we come from, in any society,” he said. “It’s where you started, and you pay homage and respect to where you came from: your fathers, and your forefathers, and your grandfathers, and so forth.”
“It’s not only like a ballet or dance; it includes the history. That makes it more interesting,” Andrew Shevchuk, who owns a telecommunications business, said, adding that his daughter happens to practice ballet. “She’s in a competition right now.”
A lot like ballet, Shen Yun’s performers perform classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance forms in the world. Created by martial artists in ancient China, it inspired many other styles seen today, such as gymnastics.
Mr. Shevchuk was also paying attention when the emcees talked about Shen Yun’s mission to bring back the lost culture.
Shen Yun’s story is “a history, right? So to prohibit history, it’s bad because you lose yourself without it,” Shevchuk said. “I see it in other countries as well. Everyone [is] changing history, and it’s not beneficial.”
“There’s a nice variety,” said Paul High, who works in the landfill industry. “The way it comes through—the history and comes up to the present—I love that. I love the way it’s put on, the way it’s presented.”
Their journey through time concludes in modern China, where a dance portrays a young follower of Falun Dafa, a faith that is banned in China. He is abused and blinded by communist officials, but then has his eyesight miraculously restored in an act of divine intervention.
For showing pieces like this, the company is banned from its ancestral homeland.
It’s a shame, High thinks.
“There’s too much closed-mindedness,” he said. “People need to just listen and appreciate different cultures. And it would be so much better.”
