DETROIT—Donald Campbell, CEO of a tech company, felt the culture in which Shen Yun Performing Arts was rooted connected to something higher.
Mr. Donald Campbell saw the performance with his son John, an executive vice president in sales, and daughter-in-law Michelle, a school social worker, at the Detroit Opera House on the evening of Feb. 24.
“I like it a lot. It has a certain spiritual dimension to it, the dimension of good and evil, which exists in every society,” said Mr. Donald Campbell.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company and has a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.
In recent years, they’ve come to describe it as “China before communism.” Before the communist regime took power in China less than a century ago, China indeed had a deeply spiritual culture for thousands of years, and Mr. Donald Campbell said “spiritual” was exactly what he thought of the traditional culture.
“Communism is atheistic. And I think atheism is very depressing, very depressing, very dark. And freedom requires a belief, a belief in a higher power. And I’m picking that up from the show,” he said.
For Mr. John Campbell, that spirituality was a point of connection to a culture far from familiar. It’s certainly not the China seen on the news, he added, and the experience was a beautiful one. Mrs. Campbell agreed.
“Oh, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful,“ she said. ”They’re so talented.”
Also in the audience was Rudi Mulder, head of a financial planning company, who was visiting from Canada.
“We’re absolutely loving the show. Absolutely. The dance, the color, the costume, the narrative,” said Mr. Mulder. Like Mr. Donald Campbell, Mr. Mulder appreciated the sense of freedom he felt conveyed in the performance.
Rudi Mulder enjoyed Shen Yun at the Detroit Opera House on Feb. 24, 2024. Charlie Lu/The Epoch Times
He felt for the Chinese citizens who live under an oppressive communist regime and said he understood there was “so much pressure” to “throttle” the truth of what that regime has done. In one of the story-based dances, a tale from modern-day China is presented on stage, where people of faith hold fast despite persecution by the regime, and ultimately find hope.
“I see it as a commonality,” Mr. Mulder said. “I like what Chinese culture brings to the rest of society as much as Chinese culture likes what other society groups bring to their culture. But there’s this constant throttling by governments to prevent us from enjoying that, I just find it offensive.”
Richard McGregor, president of an insurance firm, said he was “obsessed” with Shen Yun having now seen the performance.
“Oh, I was obsessed there. The dance is phenomenal,“ he said. ”It’s amazing, amazing.”
The two hours went by quickly for Mr. McGregor, and he said his takeaway was the universality of what he saw. Talent, athleticism, beauty—these transcend culture, he explained, and Shen Yun was “phenomenal” in these aspects.
“It’s very impressive. I think it’s about the people and the tradition,“ he said. ”They are incredible.”
With reporting by Nancy Ma, Charlie Lu, and Teng Dongyu.
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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