LONG BEACH, Calif.—Former Oscar host Tina Payne said she loved seeing
Shen Yun at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach on Saturday evening.
“I love that it’s bringing it back to peace and love and kindness and trying to get people to realize what’s most important in life,” she said. “And the dancers, their expressions—they love what they do.”
She said the message in the production was very important. Seeing it led Ms. Payne, who is from California, to think about the rights with which she was born, and how some countries don’t enjoy those same rights.
“I feel for people that don’t have that right to be able to live the way they want to live or give their life to God or spiritual,” she said.
Yet the production shows the lighter side of the world.
“It shows that there’s something more valuable here in life,” she said. “We look at all the little things instead of actually paying attention to love, peace, kindness, and being better to each other.
New York-based Shen Yun’s
mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through music and dance and share with audiences the traditional culture of China before communism—a key reason Shen Yun is
banned from performing in China by the communist regime.
“I'll always pray for all the dancers and this whole team because their families are still there,” she said. “I pray for them that they are safe. And life changes for China. God bless them all.”
Shen Yun was first launched by followers of the Chinese spiritual practice Falun Dafa in 2006 and has since toured around the world in an effort to “revive 5,000 years of civilization” nearly destroyed by the Chinese communist regime’s Cultural Revolution. Falun Dafa, also known as
Falun Gong, teaches the three principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance but has been persecuted by the communist regime in China since 1999.
Shen Yun’s digital backdrops are the first of its kind. Audiences often say the designs complement and synchronize all aspects of the performance: the characters, color of the costumes, specific dance movements, props, lighting, the story being told, particular notes played by the
orchestra, and more.
Reporting by Linda Jiang and Kimberly Hayek.
