For a month, the classical Chinese dance company—Shen Yun, has been performing in Philadelphia with mostly sold-out performances.
Marc Kramer is an American serial entrepreneur and the founder of the country’s first organized angel investor network who watched Shen Yun for the third time.
“I find it almost like meditation that it’s very relaxing, and I found that its a great break from your day just to the music, the dancing everything! Makes you feel more uplifted!” said Kramer at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia on Feb. 27.
He said that Shen Yun’s performance can restore our spirits, and that is what makes him keep coming back.
“My day-to-day is very stressful for the kind of work that I do. And I found that this was de-stressing my whole week,” he added. “For a couple of hours, you get to really decompress.”
For Kelly Roach, the performance “transports you to a different world.”
Roach is known as “The Business Catalyst,” and is a consulting strategist, author, and philanthropist. She saw Shen Yun with her young daughter at the Merriam Theater and said the performance was “So inspiring, so inspiring.”
“Delicate and strong, fast and slow, emotional, beautiful,” Roach said. “It is everything and more that everyone said it would be, it is a must-see—multiple times.”
According to its website, Shen Yun premieres a brand-new performance every year.
Pat Conneen is a producer and a professional sound engineer. “I did a lot of rock concerts and touring worldwide,” Conneen said after watching Shen Yun at the Merriam Theater.
For someone who is used to large performances, he said he especially appreciates the hard work and dedication of Shen Yun artists.
“You don’t get to see theatre like this or performances like this on a regular basis. It’s something that will touch you a little differently than other things that you go to see,” Conneen continued.
“Actually, I was in awe,” he added. “As somebody who’s worked with major artists … who’s watched months and months of rehearsal come to something, come to fruition on stage. Their execution has been perfect. Absolutely outstanding.”
One of the characteristics that make Shen Yun unique is that the artists follow an ancient tradition in addition to their daily training. These artists believe in a spiritual practice called Falun Dafa, and strive to live by the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. They believe that “cultivating the heart is the way to create art that is beautifully sublime,” the website says.
“It shows in their dance and their art form. It’s very pure, it’s very it’s saintly, it’s very saint-like,” said Conneen. “There’s a lot of piety and you can see their faith in their performance.”
Kramer was touched by the inner beauty that the performers bring on stage.
“I think [Shen Yun] inspires people to live a healthy life,” said Kramer. “One that you love other people that you connect with other people that you share with them. And it’s all about the good in man.”
For over 60 years, the Chinese communist regime has treated traditional culture as a threat to its power.
While Shen Yun celebrates traditional Chinese culture around the world, it is not allowed to perform in China.
“It’s a shame because China has such a rich culture [that] goes back thousands of years, its probably one of the richest cultures in the world. So it’s missing from everyday China,” Kramer said. “So it would be great to have it back again.”
NTD News, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
