FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Personal trainer Sandy Verma, who trained in ballet, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts immensely.
“I loved it,” Ms. Verma said. “It was absolute perfection. It was breathtaking. It was beauty coupled with an orchestral component that the timing and the beats were absolutely beyond perfection.”
She attended New York-based Shen Yun’s afternoon performance at the Au-Rene Theater in Broward Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 27.
Ms. Verma spoke of the importance of retaining one’s culture. “At all costs, one should retain the culture, and do anything and everything to preserve one’s culture and the expression and freedom of it. Regardless of the persecution, it must be retained in some shape or form because, at the end of it, all we have is our culture,” she said.
One’s culture is very special, she said. “That makes us unique because people and every single culture has its unique components that must be, regardless of the cost, preserved. Shen Yun does an absolutely fantastic job of preserving the culture through dance, Ms. Verma said, while explaining the origin of where dance actually comes from.
She said it was very informative to learn that some modern activities and sports have such a long origin linked to Chinese culture. “We have this idea that gymnastics is something that the North American society, as an example, propagates. But the reality is, it’s an ancient 5,000-year-old art form that we ourselves do not even realize. So the historical component is vital in our ongoing preservation of life in every capacity.”
‘Never Seen Before’
Ms. Verna expressed a deep appreciation for the spiritual aspects of the performance. “That was the key component for me, because our culture globally is being lost in terms of faith, in terms of the goodness of what we are supposed to be exemplifying in terms of the humanitarian component.
“I love the spirituality, the faith-based belief, and the steadfast goodness that is inherent in the Chinese culture,” she said. “It definitely exemplifies through the heartfelt warmth that each and every piece depicts between the music, the choreography, and the execution of every movement with serious perfection, to where each story is told, retained, and shared with the world. And I hope that this continues, and that we take it to a level that is internationally specified.”
Through classical Chinese dance and music, Shen Yun is sharing with the world the beauty of China’s authentic 5,000 years of history. Since its founding in 2006, the company has received worldwide accolades on its mission to revive traditional Chinese culture.
With shows scheduled in over 200 cities and across five continents, the 2024 touring season is shaping up to be the artists’ busiest one yet.
Ms. Verna said that Shen Yun was unlike anything she has ever experienced before. “Because of the execution of the movements, and the heartfelt combination of everything that the dancers show—between the music and the dancing and the story, the warmth and the faith, and the complete execution—this is something that I’ve never seen before … the costumes are beautiful, because the footwork is very, very difficult in that choreography.”
“I can 100 percent feel that each and every dancer exemplifies what he or she believes; [they are] bringing across the components of human compassion with the heartfelt emotions of faith, goodness, and a heartfelt true desire to preserve and show what the culture truly offers. They do it in such an expressive form so that theater and dance and culture and faith are all combined.”
Message of Compassion and Heartfelt Goodness
Ms. Verna said it was beautiful that the entire company of dancers “want to share the message and the word of compassion and heartfelt goodness with everybody.”
She said it was easy for the audience to feel connected to the dancers on stage because the performers really immersed themselves in the dance. “The immersion of the dancers into the pieces, this then is transferred, and the audience is immersed into their piece.”
The stories on stage showed the extent innocent people will go to—including persevering unjust persecution—to retain goodness. “Regardless of the cost, we’re just willing to pay the price to make sure that the goodness is exhibited throughout everything that one sees, one does, and one shares with the world. So in that regard, yes, I felt multiple times that the belief and the faith is exemplified through the pieces—especially where the good and evil battles were heavier,” she said.
This can continue only with a strong belief system, Ms. Verna said. “I especially love the part about the one fellow that was injured but because of the faith and the goodness and the divine intervention on multiple pieces, yes, his leg was resurrected. Along with many of the other pieces, the people were resurrected into the proper way.”
Celebrating the Divine
Shen Yun’s celebration of the Divine made a deep impression on Ms. Verna. “It gives me an emotional component that I don’t feel very often—I have no fear to express my faith and I will go to my death for it.
“For that reason, I love that the entire company depicts that and exemplifies that, and brings that message across: that no matter what the faith and spirituality, it is the basis of everything in anything. And without it, there is no proper growth and proper longevity in terms of history. Any type of a culture without faith, there’s basically nothing.”
Ms. Verna referred to the dancers as artists beautifying a dance form by combining their artistic talent with their athletic talent. She hoped for Shen Yun to continue to share its performance as it “is so precious that I hope that they dance for the next 60 years.”
She said that she hoped that faith and belief can remain strong in every country on the planet, “and that all of the evil is squashed as a result. And I hope that everybody stands for their faith and their belief.”
She hoped that Shen Yun dancers will “forever continue to do the perfection of what they’re already exemplifying.”
Reporting by Dongyu Teng and Yvonne Marcotte.
From The Epoch Times
