DALLAS—John Manning, a manager, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Eisemann Center on Jan. 4. Mr. Manning shared that he had grown up learning about different cultures and known as a child that China had a deep and rich culture.
“It’s incredible. It’s an incredible story that’s being told,” Mr. Manning said. “The artistic expression of the stories is beyond belief for me. I’m very happy I came here.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists who made it their mission to revive traditional Chinese culture and show audiences what China was like before communism. Now, with eight equally-sized companies that tour the world simultaneously, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company.
Most of Shen Yun’s program consists of dance vignettes, although there are also story-based dances based in both ancient and modern China. These story-based dances were what stood out the most to Mr. Manning. The ones based in modern-day China depict the Chinese government’s persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Mr. Manning said that he could see “almost the same persecution flowing into [the] United States.”
“[The United States is where] we should be free, where everyone in the world wishes to be free,” Mr. Manning said. “I kind of connect to that, and I say that we must fight for our freedom; we must fight for our right to religion and just humanity.”
Mr. Manning did not expect Shen Yun’s performance to stir such powerful emotions in him, and he was grateful that Shen Yun showed the audience what was happening in China today.
“My thanks to the performers, my thanks to the choreographers ... for what you do, and for telling the story and bringing the story to everyone.”
Reporting by Sherry Dong and Wandi Zhu.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
