NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.—Richard Sullivan saw in Shen Yun Performing Arts a philosophy and viewpoint that he felt perhaps opened up his mind, and was worth recommending to his children and grandchildren before the season was over so they could experience it as well.
“That just makes you realize we were much more of a common human being. We were much more common despite their ideologies and philosophies. It boils down to very similar.”
His wife, Pat Sullivan, also felt Shen Yun wasn’t the typical performance.
“It’s beautiful. It’s like something you don’t see. You can go to a dance show but it’s just different,” she said.
“It’s the harmony, it’s the philosophy, it’s the tying in of nature and blending mankind and how they interpret what’s around them,” Mr. Sullivan said.
Traditional Chinese culture is divinely inspired culture, and the Chinese people for millennia believed their culture a gift from the heavens. Values and virtues from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism permeated Chinese civilization before communism, and that piqued Mr. Sullivan’s interest.
The similarities Mr. Sullivan saw between the traditional Chinese culture and his own faith “makes me wonder,” he said.
“I’ve got to do more studying and a little more reading up on things. I think that there’s something out there I didn’t know yet before and I want to know more about it,” he said.
“I had a chance to study the expressions on all of their faces, and I find that the dedication among the actresses and actors were very good and very consistent with each other as well as themselves,” he said. And when they execute some of the stuff out, as part of an athlete, they kind of bring it all together as if it’s natural. And they exhibit every bit of it. It kind of gets you, you know?”
“If you know the physics and the science behind some of that, they’re proving that out to be accurate,” he added. “everything comes together in a moment where you sit down, you want to relax and enjoy, but you don’t realize what’s happening. But suddenly, here’s something over here. And you put that little piece together and you say, ‘Hey.’”
“I would say that enlightenment is part of it. It is also recognition of cultures,” Mr. Sullivan said of the experience. And given that it was a culture once almost lost, Mr. Sullivan felt it important “that somebody had an idea to put it together and to capture it and not let it get lost and share it with all the others in the future.”
“It was so enjoyable,” Mrs. Sullivan added. “It was colorful and they were so talented. All those dances and singers. It just was a feel-good show. It made you feel good.”
Elise Cirelli brought her parents, Tony and Pat Cirelli, to the New Brunswick opening night performance, and the family also found Shen Yun to be a “feel-good” experience.
“It makes me feel good,” Mr. Cirelli said of the experience. “It makes me feel holy.”
The culture was a spiritual one, he explained, and the artists embodied that.
“I love the spiritual aspect of the show, and I’m glad that they’re not afraid to put that forward. That they are beholden to the Creator and adore and praise Him and that He’s a big part of their life. They realize that He is why they’re here on earth. I just find that very touching,” Mr. Cirelli said.
“I love it,” Mrs. Cirelli said. “It’s beautiful. It’s so well-orchestrated, and everybody is just extremely talented, and everything is so synchronized. It’s just beyond what I expected.”
“Put it on your bucket list. You definitely got to see this,” Ms. Cirelli said.
