COSTA MESA, Calif.—Shen Yun Performing Arts again wowed the audience with its display of the beauty and profundity of traditional Chinese culture at its second performance in the Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Jan. 12. At intermission, those in attendance were left waiting for more.
Among them was Dr. Lynn Phillips, a former professor at Stanford, Harvard, and Northwestern Business School. Dr. Phillips spent decades developing tools and concepts that are now widely used in the business world. He currently teaches marketing strategies to company executives.
But while busy changing the face of the business world at the top schools across the country, Dr. Phillips has maintained an interest in Chinese culture.
“I love China and I love the Chinese culture,” he said.
New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture, which has been passed down and developed over the last 5,000 years. It does so through the medium of classical Chinese dance and music, using dance to tell stories and illustrate virtues from this rich and illustrious culture.
“I love the show!” said Dr. Phillips enthusiastically. “It has so much beauty and symmetry.”
This beauty is one of the aims of Shen Yun, to demonstrate the glory of the culture through one of its precious art forms, classical Chinese dance.
“Classical Chinese dance is rich with expressive power. Through expression of bearing and form, beautiful dance movements bring out the inner meaning of intrinsic thoughts and feelings, reflecting the peculiarities of human nature, the standard for human conduct, moral concepts, mental state, one’s value system,” explains the Shen Yun website.
“I love the cultural and the spiritual part, the messages about human freedom … about free speech … about fighting oppression, and the messages about the beauty of the Chinese landscape and the people. It’s just wonderful,” said Dr. Phillips. “It’s fantastic.”
While many of the stories depicted in Shen Yun are drawn from past centuries and millennia, some of the dances deal with present-day China. These stories concern the oppression of traditional culture and values today by the Chinese regime, particularly the spiritual practice Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), which has its roots in Chinese culture.
Dr. Phillips was impressed with the presentation of the traditional Chinese culture. “It’s very old, it’s very beautiful, and it’s to be treasured,” he remarked.
“I can’t wait for the second half. It’s fantastic.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Ben Bendig.
Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company will have three performances at The Music Center in Los Angeles through to Jan. 14.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
