“Life took me on a journey,” said Browde, speaking to NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times, at the Canadian red carpet premiere of the documentary “Unbroken: The Untold Story of Shen Yun” on April 22.
“Shen Yun is something that I once strived to become part of, and now it’s changed me as a person. It has taught me so much through dance... It has taught me so many life lessons.”
Browde, who has been with Shen Yun since 2021, said he continues to perform with the company despite pressure from the CCP’s interference because he feels Shen Yun is “doing something that is very important for society.”
“It’s very impactful, very influential, and very important,” he said. “It changes someone after watching... and if you know that what you’re doing is right, you’re not afraid to do it. Nothing will stop you.”
Shen Yun has been a target of the CCP since its inception, with Chinese officials engaging in a pressure campaign to convince theatres or governments to cancel Shen Yun performances.
Other efforts believed to be linked to CCP operatives span a wide range of incidents—from slashed tires on Shen Yun tour buses to fake bomb threats and death threats. Law enforcement agencies have documented these cases globally, tracing threatening emails—some warning of harm to hosting venues and politicians if Shen Yun performs—back to sources in China.
Jesse Browde, Lucas Browde’s older brother, has been dancing with Shen Yun for seven years and said he wanted audience members in Toronto to see Shen Yun’s side of the story through the film, as well as finding inspiration.
“I want them to be inspired in a way that I was inspired watching [Shen Yun] so long ago as a little kid,” he said.
Jesse Browde said he has learned how “deep and vast,” as well as beautiful Chinese culture is through performing with Shen Yun.
“There’s something new to learn every single year, every single role you portray… and apply it in your everyday life,” he said.
‘Divinely Inspired’
Levi Browde, the father of Lucas and Jesse, credits his sons’ education at Fei Tian Academy of the Arts—an upstate New York campus that trains Shen Yun performers—with shaping them into the young men they are today.“They have a fantastic approach to education,” he told NTD. “It’s not just the academics, it’s not just world class elite dance and music training. It is a holistic approach on a spiritual foundation… and just a wonderful approach at character building.”
Levi Browde said “Unbroken” is not only about Shen Yun, but is about “anybody who cherishes freedom and the sacrifices that sometimes are needed to stand up for that freedom.”
“It’s a story for people who are trying to say something, do something that’s very brave and courageous when the largest totalitarian regime on Earth is trying to stop you,” he added.
Rachel Chen, a principal violist with the Shen Yun Orchestra, has performed with the company for 15 years and says she has watched it grow from one company into eight touring companies today.
“As an artist, I sometimes forget to reflect on how far we’ve gone, but actually we’ve gone such a long way, and I hope to keep going,” she said during an interview with NTD on the red carpet.
Chen said Shen Yun’s music is unique because it is “very hopeful” and aims to make audiences feel uplifted and inspired. “Nothing is all heavy or dark, it’s very bright and hopeful. That’s something that’s very unique about Chinese music,” she added.
Chen said she knew little about traditional Chinese culture before joining Shen Yun, but has since come to see its defining feature as its divine inspiration.
“It’s something that comes from the divine, and that’s something that we don’t see every day, but it’s something that’s really important. It’s really rooted in Chinese culture.”
‘Uplifting and Pure’
Wearing a yellow dress based on attire popular during China’s Qing Dynasty, Lillian Parker, a principal dancer for Shen Yun, said it felt “very surreal” to be part of the dance company’s 20th year anniversary this year.“So many people have put so much into this show, and I’m just one tiny, tiny part of this miracle,” she told NTD at the red carpet reception. “I really feel very honoured that I get to be part of this experience.”
Parker said her favourite thing about performing with Shen Yun is being part of a community of performers who have a higher mission and are striving to be better people.
“It just creates such an uplifting and pure environment, and it’s a place where you really grow, but there is no cutthroat competition,” she said. “It’s just everyone helping each other, so I just feel so lucky that I get to grow and thrive in this environment.”
The premiere of “Unbroken” in Toronto comes just weeks after six Shen Yun performances at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts were cancelled following a series of hoax bomb threats that local organizers say Beijing is behind. The theatre decided to cancel the shows despite police confirming the threats were not credible and despite requests by the show’s local presenter, the Falun Dafa Association of Toronto, to allow the shows to proceed.
The same sender who threatened the Toronto shows also issued a similar hoax bomb threat to Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, just as Shen Yun was preparing to perform there in early April. After Vancouver police investigated and confirmed the threat was not credible, the shows were allowed to proceed. Police said the phone number associated with the email that made the threat is a Chinese phone number, based in China.
Former Conservative MP Wladyslaw Lizon attended the Toronto premiere and said the Shen Yun performances in the city should not have been cancelled.
“This is absolutely unacceptable in the country we live in,” Lizon told NTD. “We have agencies that deal with safety, security, and they should be making the ultimate decision how to proceed, not the management of the [theatre].”
Lizon said he hoped the situation would be resolved so Shen Yun is able to perform in Toronto next year, saying “we cannot have continuing interference in the affairs of our sovereign country by outside powers.”
‘Incredibly Brave’
Former Canadian Navy Officer Francesca Colussi has seen Shen Yun perform three times and attended the premiere of “Unbroken” in Toronto. She said her biggest takeaway from watching the documentary was how Shen Yun artists are “brave beyond belief” for continuing to perform in the face of CCP threats.Colussi told NTD it is “extremely inspirational” that a younger generation is involved in the arts and is standing up against what is “undeniably wrong.”
Colussi also said she found it “very disturbing” and “infuriating” that the threats targeting Shen Yun in Toronto led to the performances being cancelled.
“We should never stop the arts. That is the end of community when you stop arts,” Colussi said.
Darlene Varaleau, a retired lawyer who attended the Toronto premiere, told NTD the beauty and discipline involved in Shen Yun performances is “an inspiration.”
She also noted that Canada should take the threats targeting Shen Yun “very seriously.”
“This is a beautiful, disciplined performance, and Canadians want to see it, and we should not allow anyone to interfere with that,” she said.
There should be “hard line prosecution” against such interference, and foreign actors should not be able to have performances cancelled “with a few emails,” Varaleau added.
“Canada should not tolerate that,” she noted.
