EDMONTON, Canada—Financial adviser Rhea Sharma attended Shen Yun’s evening performance at the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on April 13, after her brother saw it last year and insisted that she come this year.
Although this was her first time watching
Shen Yun, she was already certain she will return next year.
For its 2024 touring season, Shen Yun’s eight equally sized companies will be performing in over 200 cities across five continents. The artists can be expected to return with a brand-new set of programs each season.
“I really liked it. I really enjoyed it, especially the music and the dance. It was perfect. The dance form was really beautiful—it was so elegant,” she said.
“Some of the enactments were so difficult—as soon I saw them, I was impressed. The [artists] did them with such poise and elegance. The
music that went along with it—you can feel the emotion of the act. That’s what I think made [the experience] really special.”
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts was
founded in 2006 by elite Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist party.
For 5,000 years, China’s civilization flourished under the shared belief that the divine will bless those who uphold traditional moral values. Tragically, within just a few decades of the
communist party’s violent takeover, these beliefs were erased and replaced with atheism.
The mission of Shen Yun’s artists is to return to the world stage the glory and beauty of China’s 5,000 years of
divinely inspired culture.
Ms. Sharma resonated deeply with Shen Yun’s final piece, which depicted the heavenly Creator descending to earth to offer salvation and save mankind from disaster.
“Times have changed, and we’ve forgotten our traditions. The value of preserving our culture, our tradition, and moving forward together—I think the essence of that is what I appreciate. That’s why [
Shen Yun] hit home,” she expressed.
“I’m Indian. That hits home because I do believe in God. I believe in our culture and what it represents. People don’t really believe in God anymore. I feel like [
Shen Yun is about] coming back to your roots so that you can move forward with it rather than deny your identity.”
Her take-home message from this dance piece is that it was “a manifestation of the divine spirit that has the power to control nature.”
“It can not only help you liberate yourself from the ignorance that you feel but at the same time guide you toward the positive, the happiness, and the eternal spirit of the divine. That’s what I understood from it,” she said.
“[The show] was ethereal. Absolutely magnificent.”
Reporting by Caifeng Lin and Jennifer Tseng.
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