“I’m totally amazed. It is awesome. Those people are so coordinated and so agile,” said Nancy Goodlett, a retired elementary school teacher. “You’ve done a wonderful job. And please keep it up for the rest of us and for the rest of the world, it is fantastic. Thank you very much.”
“The entire production, the message, the performance, all of it is so high caliber, so over the top, and so different from what I’m used to. And so it’s opening me up to a whole new world of entertainment,” said Dru Vincent, a radio DJ for KHNS.
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture from before communism. A culture that the Chinese communist regime has been trying to destroy since taking power in 1949.
“I think it opens up your mind and reality to other realities, China before communism,” said Mr. Vincent. “Nothing like I’ve ever seen before. And everything today copies it, obviously, if you watch it and see, you see all these other elements from today in that dance which started the whole thing.”
David Cutts, a dentist, said, “I think that communist China, again, is similar to the soulless part of our own government. It’s all the same people, or the types of people, and I think ultimately they are going to fail. And I don’t mean economically, I don’t mean culturally. I think they are going to fail because they’re atheist, they’re soulless, and I believe that good and right and us, we will win.”
Mr. Vincent said, “We take for granted so many things here in the U.S., our freedoms. The fact that this can’t even be shown in China, if that doesn’t give you chills, the fact something so simple as a performance that they can’t see, I think that is the most powerful thing, that it makes us realize the freedoms we have here, and that other people don’t have those kinds of freedoms. And we need to address that.”
“I loved it. It’s very surprising how colorful the costumes were, and I wasn’t really expecting the spiritual aspect of it. And I just loved it. It was really inspiring,” said Josie Drude, a business owner. “People are lonely and sad and disconnected, and they need to know that we’re all connected through that love of the Divine. I think all our cultures can see it a different way, and it still resonated, even though I have a different religion, maybe we share that same searching for the Divine.”
Mr. Cutts said, “The message is very clear in the performance that we came from Divine. We are spiritual beings, and our society will rise or fall based on that message of whether we get the message out to everyone, which I so admire, what you guys are doing. We all need to be getting that message out that we are spiritual beings. We were Divine at one time. You can use different semantics and words for that, but I think everyone knows that. And to say it and to see it being put out there so honestly and forthrightly and decently and wonderfully is inspiring.”
“So grateful that this has gone from one troupe to eight, and that just showing the need that the people have to see this and just the beauty, the way that the directors, the writers, the way that they are giving it to the world with all the color and all the dancing and just the smiles and the message of kindness, it’s great,” said Ms. Drude.
