PHOENIX—On Mar. 9, Zachariah Mikutowicz, the executive director of a university, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Symphony Hall with his family.
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception in 2006, Shen Yun’s mission has been to revive traditional Chinese culture and show audiences the beauty of “China before communism.”
Shen Yun is not allowed to perform in China because it depicts the spiritual elements of traditional Chinese culture—elements that the Chinese Communist Party made sure to replace with its own atheist ideologies.Shen Yun’s messages resonated with Mr. Mikutowicz, as a Christian, “believe[d] that the messages overlap with kindness and peace, and essentially treating one another as you would want to be treated.”
“I think that the world is corrupt,” Mr. Mikutowicz said. “I think that we live in a civilization of selfishness ... where people feel entitled, and where people take advantage of one another and they beat each other down. That’s not the way to live at all. So spreading a compassion of true love and kindness and selflessness, putting others above yourself I think is absolutely critical.”
Mr. Mikutowicz was deeply touched by Shen Yun’s performance, saying that it “brought you on an emotional rollercoaster in a really good way.”
“It tugs at the heartstrings,” he said. “It really made you feel like you were almost in the show.”
Mr. Mikutowicz rated Shen Yun “11 out of 10.”
