ESCONDIDO, Calif.—Mr. Jeffrey Sitcov saw Shen Yun Performing Arts for the first time Jan. 21 at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido. It was a full house.
“I was completely blown away,” said Mr. Sitcov after watching the performance. “The quality was amazing. Everybody was first class. Anybody, any age, would love this.”
Mr. Sitcov is founder and president of Photocharity, a non-profit organization that has raised over $600,000 to help homeless youth ages 18–24 in San Diego, according to Photocharity’s website.
Perhaps it’s Mr. Sitcov’s ethos to serve others that made him recognize a greater significance in the performance.
He said that Shen Yun is not just a performance. He was impressed with the message about justice and about persecution that currently takes place in China.
“I think that [Shen Yun is] doing good for the world by getting this out and letting us know what persecution is happening right now in your country. I got a little glimpse of it.”
He was referring to a program during the show in which practitioners of the Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong) meditation practice are persecuted for their beliefs. He noted that he understood the “meditation is about love and peace and harmony,” he added.
Shen Yun is a New York-based classical Chinese dance and music company whose mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture, according to its website.
In addition to male and female dancers who move in sync with an orchestra, the audience is treated to a large, digitally animated backdrop that creates vivid imagery of vast Chinese landscapes.
The backdrops are “magical windows to completely different realms,” according to Shen Yun’s website.
Mr. Sitcov said, “I’m a photographer. The backdrops were amazing. It was a good effect. There is not one thing I think is bad in this show ... nothing.”
Mr. Sitcov served as house photographer for the San Diego State Open Air Theater, where he photographed music concerts and celebrities.
He finished the interview by saying, “they [Shen Yun] touched my soul, they touched many people’s soul. Keep doing it! Keep spreading the word. [Shen Yun] should be very proud of the quality of their work, the message. It was an amazing experience.”
Reporting by Flora Ge and Albert Roman.
Shen Yun Performing Arts has three touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will next perform in Phoenix, at the ASU Gammage, Jan. 27 to 29.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3WTKCEA4tE[/video]
