DETROIT—Dan Djuric attended Shen Yun Performing Arts with his wife and some friends at the Detroit Opera House on Feb. 9 and said the performance was “Awesome. Fantastic.”
He liked the choreography of the dances. “On the dance side, the choreography was amazing. I did visit Shanghai once, and so I was able to reminisce on some of the things I did see in the parks, which was very interesting for me,” he said.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture before communism, through dances that tell a story or legend from China’s past.
“Macedonia was also a socialistic community. So similar parallelism in terms of the differentiation of what the heart tells you to do rather than what the community tells you to do,” he said.
Mr. Djuric said he connected with the dances that depicted the persecution and suppression of belief in modern China. “I think they connect really well, especially on the influence of dance and the stories through the dance rather than any type of communication.”
“I thought it was interesting. It was unexpected, so it was very cool to see, especially the timing with regards to technology coming in and out,” Mr. Djuric said.
“I would say more on the technology side, I think my favorite one was when [a dancer] jumped into the ocean or water. Then was pulled out of the water and came back out. I thought that was really amazing in terms of how he was just drawn through the course of life,” he said.
Not expecting anything going into the performance, Mr. Djuric said he had positive feelings coming out. “I came in with no expectations, and I’m actually coming out feeling refreshed. I thought the music was spot on, and I feel pretty good.”
Traditional Chinese culture has a very strong spirituality, and Shen Yun shares that message.
“What was interesting to me is that I think that was one of the first things I noticed in regards to just the belief in the spiritual aspect of it. What I was really impressed by was the theme of the play, which was effectively music, dance through our beliefs, and then ultimately the way the music connected with it as well. Overall I feel very spiritual,” he said.
