MILWAUKEE—Michael Reinicker, an IT professional, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Miller High Life Theatre on Feb. 22. His seven-year-old daughter, who had seen Shen Yun two years ago, wanted to see the performance again.
“[Shen Yun] is educational for all ages,” Mr. Reinicker said. “They’re very good at what they do. I like the live orchestra as well, instead of just having regular music. The fact that they have the integrated background as well with the dancers, I think, is unique. I haven’t seen anything like that before.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception, Shen Yun has expanded from one to eight equally sized companies that tour around the world simultaneously. The mission of the company is to revive traditional Chinese culture and showcase the beauty of “China before communism.”
Mr. Reinicker said he learned through Shen Yun that “Chinese culture itself has been basically interrupted by ... the communist regime.” He shared his thoughts about the importance of preserving traditional culture, and said that Shen Yun was “a good way to do that.”
“You really have to hold on to your traditions,” he said. “If you don’t hold on to your traditions, then those will get lost, especially with all the technology and everything today that gets lost. Being able to hold on to those and pass those down to the next generation is always a benefit.”
Shen Yun’s program includes story-based dances, some of which are set in modern-day China and depict the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of followers of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. Seeing the perseverance of Falun Dafa’s practitioners in the face of oppression, Mr. Reinicker felt that faith was another main theme throughout Shen Yun’s performance.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing,” was his message to the performers. “This has continued to grow, and that you can share it with more and more generations—hopefully this will continue to grow and become bigger and bigger every year.”
