SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

‘I Appreciate China More Because of Shen Yun’ Says Operations Director

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‘I Appreciate China More Because of Shen Yun’ Says Operations Director
Isaac Morley, Mary Kate Morley, and Kristen Johnson attended Shen Yun Performing Arts at George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City on March 23, 2024. Lily Yu/The Epoch Times
SALT LAKE CITY—Isaac Morley, an operations director, his wife Mary Kate Morley, a stay-at-home mom, and Mrs. Morley’s sister Kristen Johnson, a teacher, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater on March 23.

“It was incredible,” said Mrs. Morley, adding that their eyes were opened “to the beauty and how spiritual their background and history was.”

“It was breathtaking,” said Ms. Johnson. “Beautiful color and just amazing talent from each of the performers.”

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has been the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company since its inception in 2006. Its performers come from all around the world, united in their mission to revive traditional Chinese culture and the beauty and goodness of China before communism.

“I was very impressed and very excited to learn more about the culture of China, pre-communism,” said Mr. Morley. “You know, I think it’s something that we don’t know a lot about, and for me to learn about that, I think, made me want to learn more. It piqued my curiosity, and I want to learn more about China.”

Mr. Morley said that he saw through Shen Yun elements of Chinese culture that are not seen by the rest of the world due to China’s communist regime and explained that this was why he loved Shen Yun’s mission.

“There’s a lot of things that are kind of hidden because of the communism,” he said. “I love the mission of Shen Yun because it’s helping us to learn more about the real, long, and meaningful history of China.”

According to Shen Yun’s website, the ancient Chinese believed that their culture was a gift from the Heavens, and traditional Chinese culture is founded on the spiritual teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. However, these ancient beliefs were abolished when the Chinese Communist Party seized power and enforced its own atheist ideologies.

Shen Yun, however, reminds the world of the ancient Chinese peoples’ close connection to spirituality. The opening piece of Shen Yuns’ program depicts divine beings following the Creator down to Earth to establish the Chinese civilization.

“We know about the communism in China, [but] we don’t talk about the spiritual part of China as often,” Mr. Morley said. “It makes me feel light, you know. I don’t know how else to explain it other than that, but I feel lighter. I feel more hopeful, and I appreciate China more because of Shen Yun.”

Mr. Morley saw a powerful message in Shen Yun’s performance as well.

“I think Shen Yun was trying to tell us that we all have a divine purpose,” he said. “We all have a purpose here on earth. We all have our own mission, and we are divine. We’re divine people and divine beings. And that’s not just in the culture in the Western world but also in the Eastern world, and we don’t think about that all the time as Westerners.”

Each year, Shen Yun performs an all-new program. Mr. Morley said that he would recommend Shen Yun to his friends and expressed his wish to catch Shen Yun’s future productions, too.

“I would say you should definitely come,” said Mr. Morley. “I definitely want to come every year.”

Reporting by Lily Yu and Wandi Zhu.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
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