DETROIT—For Matt and Theresa Baker’s 35th wedding anniversary, the couple decided to take a trip to see Shen Yun Performing Arts.
“It was the total package,” said Mrs. Baker, a dance and gymnastics teacher herself. Well versed in what it takes to put on a dance production, she lauded Shen Yun’s innovative backdrop technology, training, and creativity. “I was shocked they have eight companies!”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Since its inception in 2006, it has since grown to eight groups that tour simultaneously, and this year visited nearly 200 cities.
The couple added that the experience was so enjoyable because the message was positive.
“There’s no way somebody can perform like that and not have it in their heart and soul. It’s just not possible,” Mrs. Baker said.
Mr. Baker said, “It’s universal, for everybody. Everybody will benefit from this. And it doesn’t matter the age group, it’s aged 3 to 83. It does not matter how old you are; the message is for everyone, which is—be kind to everybody, make your changes in your life, and everything will improve.”
“It’s not what you go through in life—it’s how you deal with it, and if you do it with your family and friends,” he said. “It’s kind of crazy now. It’s really upside down and we need to change that. We need to treat people around the world, you know, mankind, with the words in the name: ’man kind.' Just be kind to man. And that’s women too. So, that’s the story.”“You could tell that they love what they do. And that message came through,” he said.
The only thing that saddened Mr. Baker was the fact that this message cannot make it to communist China, where “they’re not even allowed to see it.”
“Maybe this can make changes,” he said. “We can only hope this will have an effect, a positive effect.”