SEARCH
HARTFORD, Conn.—A theater steeped in history and memory was the perfect setting for a world-renowned performance of traditional Chinese culture.
The Bushnell was built as a “living memorial” by Dotha Bushnell Hillyer for her father the Reverend Dr. Horace Bushnell in 1930. On Wednesday night, Shen Yun Performing Arts took the audience back 5,000 years in a show that revives the traditions of ancient China.
Chris Lindgren, a local attorney, said the show was very different and he liked it. “It’s very colorful, dramatic,” he said, adding that he noticed a theme about the liberation of China. “It was kind of a surprise—I liked it.”
New York-based Shen Yun has the mission to restore China’s history that is steeped in rich values and the idea that humanity and the divine are intertwined.
Kathy Figura, self-employed, attended in the group with Mr. Lindgren. She said the costumes and colors were beautiful. “And the way they could just dance was unbelievable.”
A Special Connection
Mr. Adams, a special education teacher, said he connected with the performance Our Story. The scene is set in modern-day China in a classroom, the teacher is passing on the values of traditional culture to her students when the police burst in. The teacher is killed, despite the students’ attempts to intervene, but they are rewarded with a miraculous scene.
“I am a teacher and I wish my kids appreciated the fact that we can take a book and read it … and not get arrested for it,” Mr. Adams said. “I express myself regularly about the freedoms we have here.”
He said he would "absolutely" tell his students about Shen Yun in class tomorrow.
His wife, Rose, an analyst, said she liked that the performance was sending a message. “And that they have the ability and freedom to do that.”
“It was very passionate … they danced with a lot of feeling, and a lot of passion, and it was moving."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Adams said they loved the dance Plum Blossom, depicting blossoms in the winter-time.
“I loved [it],” Mr. Adams said. “Because they got into it, you could tell they really enjoyed that a lot.”
“It was beautiful and very visually stimulating,” Mrs. Adams said.
A standing ovation and two curtain calls lent to the idea that the rest of the audience agreed.
Continued on the next page...
