SYDNEY, Australia—Ms. Analieze Bella Newton feels like a changed person after experiencing
Shen Yun Performing Arts.
Named Ms. Humanitarian 2020 for her community work, Ms. Newton, who has also been crowned an Honourary Queen of Diamonds, said she had been eagerly waiting to see
Shen Yun Performing Arts since last year. She finally got to watch the performance with her son at the Sydney Lyric theatre on April 15 and was blown away.
“It’s changing you somehow,” she said of the
performance. “It just makes you feel so good about learning about culture.
“There’s not a lot of talking going on, but there’s so much emotion … I just love it so much.”
Known for its spirited dancers, breathtaking special effects, and live
orchestra that harmonises Eastern and Western sounds, New York-based Shen Yun is currently touring Australia, bringing 5,000 years of rich Chinese culture and history to the stage for people to experience—from “China before communism.”
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Shen Yun” gets its name from the Chinese words meaning “divine beings dancing.”
Ms. Newton said she loved the dances “Water Sleeves” and “Plum Blossoms,” as well as a story about persecution in modern China of people who practise the peaceful Chinese meditation Falun Dafa which teaches Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance.
“That is just very emotional for me,” Ms. Newton said of the story, in which a family’s lives are shattered by the cruel persecution.
But Ms. Newton said that
Shen Yun left her with a feeling of serenity and peace, despite all the bad things happening in the world.
“You know, with everything that’s going on in the world … I just felt like I was somewhere so peaceful. I absolutely loved the experience; my son actually wished it didn’t end.
“I’m so, so happy; I’m totally overwhelmed, I feel really good about it all, it made me feel good inside.”
“I wish everyone will watch the show, it’s heavenly,” she said.
With reporting by NTD and Melanie Sun.