WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Fashion designer Natalia Stepura was gifted the experience of Shen Yun Performing Arts by a friend for her birthday.
Ms. Stepura, who is from Ukraine, said it was fascinating to see more than the one side of China that she is familiar with.
Ms. Stepura and her friend Olga Baranovskya, who is from Belarus, both originally migrated from the former Soviet Union states to New Zealand.
Ms. Baranovskya, an IT developer, said she has been living in Wellington for eight years now, and came to escape communism.
She said she had been curious about Shen Yun after seeing an advertisement a few years ago.
“I’m pretty happy that we actually made it this year,” she said. “It was pretty amazing.”
Ms. Baranovskya said the highlight of Shen Yun for her was that it showcased “China before communism.”
“I personally think that communism destroyed a lot of heritage and [the] legacy of many countries; not only China, but also ex-Soviet Union countries.
“We had our own heritage, our own religion,” she said of Belarus. “And when communism enters the country, it kills and destroys a lot of really important things like values. It replaces the values that people were growing and contributing [to over] centuries.
“It’s really a shame that communism happens like at all. But the fact that we remember, [the] Chinese people still remember, [we are] still trying to look back and save this history, it’s pretty amazing.
“So I personally hope one day we will regret and forget about communism [of the] past, and we will come back to our heritage and to our roots. And I’m talking not only about the China, but about the Ukraine as well. So now, Ukraine is fighting for its independence and to become free from the Soviet Union. Belarus as well; we lost our language, our heritage, a lot of history that was available before the Soviet Union,” she explained.
“I feel like China is very strong in this part. So [what Shen Yun is doing] is crucial to keeping it, to remembering it. And the fact that you have not only one group dancing, but eight. Yeah, that’s sharing the knowledge, raising the awareness.
“It’s really important for Chinese people living abroad, for all the people that are learning about China,” she said.
She echoed Ms. Stepura, saying that from Shen Yun, the audience learns to appreciate that China isn’t just limited to the modern China we know now—one of communism and strict rules and hardworking people—but is also one that it has an “amazing culture” beyond communism.
“It was a really nice surprise,” Ms. Baranovskya said of the theme.
“The music is beautiful and the sound is amazing, and even her movements were like dance,” Ms. Stepura said.
