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Connecticut: Additional Shen Yun Performances Bring Audience the Wonder of Traditional Chinese Culture

July 28, 2021 |   By Minghui correspondents Shirley and Jing Ruyu

(Minghui.org) On July 24 and 25, the Palace Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut was packed with audience members to see Shen Yun’s performances. According to the theater’s CEO Michael Mora, Shen Yun has brought the largest audiences to the venue since it reopened after one year of being shut down.

Shen Yun performance at the Palace Theatre in Stamford, Connecticut on July 25, 2021

After three shows were sold out in June this year, Shen Yun decided to add three more shows in July to meet the demand.

As the curtain was lifted, what appeared on stage was a magnificent view of the heavenly world. As principal dancer Evangeline Zhu explained in a recent interview, “What the audience sees is brightness and wonder. And they can feel they are being looked after by the divine.”

Each Shen Yun show features two-hour programs that depict the magnificence of different levels of heavenly abodes and tell the stories of ancient times and modern days. As the 5,000 year-long Chinese civilization is unfolded before the audience’s eyes, the virtues of courage, loyalty, kindness are on full display. In addition, the nearly lost highest dancing techniques, such as “shen-dai-shou” (the body leads the arms) and “kua-dai-tui” (the hips lead the legs) further illustrate the beauty and purity of classical Chinese dance. This allows the audience to appreciate the authentic Chinese culture, untainted by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elements.

“Wholly Brand New Experience”

Sam Shukovsky, associate director at the pharmaceutical company of Boehringer-Ingelheim, watched the performance on the afternoon of July 24.

“I loved it. It was spectacular,” remarked Sam Shukovsky, associate director at Boehringer-Ingelheim, “The costumes were amazing. The dancing was gorgeous. The music was beautiful. It was just phenomenal.”

“It’s a unique performance. Having seen a number of Broadway shows, and comparing this to that—it’s completely different. It’s just a wholly brand new experience that doesn’t equal anything else out there,” he continued.

He also appreciated the hard work of keeping the Chinese heritage. “It’s a valiant effort to do so, to bring back the culture that has been extinguished in the country. I think that’s a wonderful idea. And I hope more people can see it,” he explained.

Financial Firm Owner: Universal Values

Financial firm owner Art Mocabee and his friend Gloria Gibney were impressed by the performance on July 25.

Art Mocabee is the owner of Equitable Advisors, a financial planning and asset management company. He looked forward to seeing such a tradition being revived and passed on to future generations.

“It is just a side of China I think most Americans don’t see because of the communist regime,” he added, “That is absolutely beautiful. It’s a shame that this cannot be performed in China as we speak of the repression.”

This highlights the common theme across mankind. “It’s beautiful, it is absolutely beautiful. The theme and the morality are the same with all humans,” he concluded.

Senior Sales Director: Retrieving the Lost Culture

Mary Ann Tartaglia and her husband Jeff Wandel liked the show on July 25 very much.

Mary Ann Tartaglia is a Senior Sales Director of a major cosmetics company. She was very touched by the performance because it helped her gain a deeper understanding of Chinese tradition.

“Every program is great, and both the color and dances are superb.” She said she did not know the Chinese civilization was so rich and broad. She was really sorry to see that such a tradition was nearly lost in the past few decades.

Being a religious person, she is confident that the divine is overseeing everything and would bring back tradition, because tradition is too precious for us to abandon.

Chinese Scholar: Hope and Future

Columnist and independent commentator Ge Bidong.

Ge Bidong, a Chinese scholar and independent commentator, said the Shen Yun performance helps the world to know what is the real China and authentic Chinese culture. In fact, China used to have an outstanding history and art. But all these were ruined by the CCP.

That is why he sees hope for a better future. By disintegrating the CCP, China could bring back a wonderful history and share beautiful treasures like Shen Yun with the world.