SYDNEY, Australia—Jennifer Bird, the president of the Irish Dancing Association, said she was inspired to keep her traditions alive after watching Shen Yun perform at the Capitol Theatre on March 6.
“We can’t lose our tradition, and we can’t lose our history,” Ms. Bird said. “It’s where you know the young ones learn where kindness [comes] from, and the hardships, and [that] you still have kindness today.”
Values such as loyalty, integrity, kindness, wisdom, propriety, and justice were practiced and upheld.
Story-based dance is one of the ways Shen Yun portrays Chinese traditional culture.
According to its program book, Shen Yun performs stories from ancient legends to those set in modern-day China. All of the performances display traditional Chinese values.
“I’ve been involved in multicultural dancing my whole life,” Ms. Bird said. “It was beautiful, and I love the tradition. It’s good to keep the tradition alive and pass it down to the next generation.”
One of her favourite pieces was the “Dance of the Golden Peacocks,” where the ladies who play the golden peacocks soar high up the heavens before transforming into radiant fairies, according to the program book.
Education Executive Grateful That Shen Yun Advocates for Tradition
Meanwhile, Sam Kawatra, an executive for the Canterbury Education Group, said he was grateful for Shen Yun showcasing traditional values.
“It’s interesting to see how ancient cultures were when we didn’t have mobile phones or anything,” Mr. Kawatra said after watching Shen Yun at the Capitol Theatre on March 6.
“I feel the sense of gratitude and a sense of gratefulness … where family values made me feel very familiar.
“Seeing how people are connected to their roots and, you know, the embracing culture in Australia or across the world when they travel, showing people their culture, it’s beautiful,” he said.
On stage, Shen Yun performances bring back the traditional values that have sustained and created China’s rich civilization over so many generations.
The mere representation of this lost heritage and its virtues immediately, by way of contrast, unmasks communism and its ideology of struggle.
Managing Director Says Shen Yun’s Depiction of Religious Persecution Is ‘Brave’
Also in attendance at the Capitol Theatre on March 6 was Carolyn Currie, the managing director of Public-Private Sector Partnerships Pty Ltd.
“I think they’re obviously very brave, but you are in a free country, Australia, so you can publicise it without fear or hesitation,” Ms. Currie said.
Ms. Currie said that in 2002 she arranged an exhibition about the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners and was concerned that the persecution is still ongoing.
“Apparently this is still going on, except their organs are being harvested alive. And it must stop. The persecution of a religious minority that happens to be harmless, [who] believe in divine creatures, meditation, and exercise—this has to stop,” Ms. Currie said.
According to the company website, Shen Yun’s artists follow a spiritual discipline called Falun Dafa, which is centered on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance.
This, they say, is what makes their company able to truly spread traditional Chinese culture.
“I'd like to talk to [the performers] and just say how wonderful it is. The dancing is wonderful, and [they must] persist, to go on [and] to never stop.”
