LOS ANGELES—Jennifer Ginsberg, psychotherapist, is very intentional about what kind of media she will watch, carefully curating works that will uplift, inspire, and show her beauty. In Shen Yun Performing Arts, she found just that.
“It’s beautiful. It’s so relaxing, and so beautiful, and so inspiring. The colors, the
costumes, the dance is just lovely. The performers are so talented. It’s wonderful,” said Ms. Ginsberg after seeing a performance at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Jan. 19.
New York-based Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, has a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization, showing audiences a China before communism.
Ms. Ginsberg felt it an important
mission, cheering the artists on.
“I think it’s really striking that this isn’t allowed in China,” she said. “It’s so important that we keep it alive here and continue to just perform, they continue to perform and continue to spread their message and their art.”
Traditional Chinese culture was divinely inspired culture, but when the communist regime seized power in 1949, it set about destroying traditional culture through violent revolution. This is but one reason Shen Yun has been outright banned by the
Chinese communist regime.
Another is that Shen Yun, through story-based classical Chinese dance, shows stories based on
true events in China today. Some of these stories show Chinese people still holding on to faith and traditional culture and the communist regime’s religious persecution of spiritual believers.
According to Ms. Ginsberg, it was artfully done.
“I think the last pieces about meditation and then the communism coming in and not allowing those beautiful spiritual practices were really compelling and very heartbreaking to watch. So much of it is just really so beautiful,” she said.
In particular, the regime has waged a decades-long campaign against the peaceful spiritual meditation practice of Falun Gong. Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual discipline that teaches truth, compassion, and forbearance, and
Shen Yun artists also practice it. Traditional Chinese culture has a long history of practices of spiritual self-betterment or cultivation, according to the program book, and Shen Yun’s artists follow in this tradition.
Ms. Ginsberg said Shen Yun was doing “a beautiful job” keeping traditional
Chinese culture alive.
“It’s so important that we see that, and it’s kept alive,” Ms. Ginsberg said. “It’s such a rich and beautiful culture. And we must continue to be able to see it and express it. And the dance is so beautiful. The performers are amazing. I think everyone should see it.”
“They’re so lovely,” she said. “They’re so talented, and ... I love that their spirit is showing through when they dance, I see their smiles, it’s very genuine.”
“There’s so much life and beauty and it’s just a beautiful way to spend some time and to experience something,” she said.
Reporting by Alice Sun and Catherine Yang.
