This year, for the first time since its founding in 2006, Shen Yun Performing Arts made its Caribbean debut in the Dominican Republic.
Multiple officials sent congratulatory letters to New York-based Shen Yun, welcoming the group and expressing their appreciation for Shen Yun’s efforts to revive traditional Chinese culture from “China before communism.”
From February 2 to 7, Shen Yun took to the stage for seven performances in the Dominican Republic’s capital of Santo Domingo and the city of Santiago.
But the performances were not without challenges.
Last November, Shen Yun’s organizers launched their promotional campaign ahead of the performance in the Dominican Republic.
But at the same time, China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a campaign to disrupt those efforts, using its diplomatic arms to send messages to all levels in the Dominican government and different local media outlets. The goal: to pressure the authorities to cancel the performance.
Local organizer Minerva Cruz says the CCP’s tactics won’t work in democratic countries.
“I don’t think a democratic country like ours would accept the pressure of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party’s interference in other countries will not succeed here. We know for sure that the CCP has been exerting strong influence since November, trying to cancel the show,” she said. Cruz is the president of the Dominican Falun Dafa Association, which is the host of Shen Yun.
It’s not the first time the CCP has tried to interfere with the performance.
According to Shen Yun’s website, the company has had to overcome CCP interference since its inception.
From ordering its embassies and consulates around the world to pressure local theaters—to dangerously tampering and damaging Shen Yun’s tour vehicles.
Despite these tactics, the CCP has been unable to stop Shen Yun’s performances, which tell stories from China’s 5,000 years of history, much of which was destroyed during the CCP’s cultural revolution in the 1960s or forgotten.
Audiences around the world have found beauty, hope, and meaning in Shen Yun’s storytelling. Shen Yun now tours with eight separate companies that perform simultaneously around the globe.
“I found it to be a must-see show, but above all, I’m impressed with the message it has through art—not only about what is going on in China but also about the spiritual values involved in this show,” said Chiqui Checo, director of the Grand Theater of Cibao in Santiago, who saw Shen Yun when it was performing there. “That really left me very, very impressed.”
“It seems to me that it’s a bright moment in my management of the theater, because it’s a dance company that believes in virtues, in discipline, in raising the human spirit that all countries, all cultures, have to watch over,” said Carlos Veitía, the director of the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo where Shen Yun was performing.
Having withstood the CCP’s intimidation, the audiences in the Dominican Republic stood alongside others in appreciating Shen Yun, which is banned from performing in China by the CCP.
“So it’s not just a show; it’s culture within the show with the desire, the strength of wanting to maintain important relationships between 5,000 years of history and our future,” said Andrea Calistri, CEO of Sapaf Leather Goods, who saw Shen Yun in Florence, Italy.
“It’s just wonderful the way they’ve used their artistic skills to give people their view of what China was, what China is, and what they look for in peace in the future,” said Marie Rimmer, a UK member of parliament in St. Helens South and Whiston. She saw Shen Yun in London.
“Keep it going, keep doing what’s true for your culture, to represent your culture, your country, and your art. 100 percent, you are fantastic performers. It’s a fantastic production. Keep doing it, please,” said Ted Bodnar, who is the principal architect at Bodnar Architecture, PC. He saw Shen Yun in New York City.
Shen Yun will perform through May 10 this year and return in 2024 with an all-new performance.
Reporting by Shiwen Rong, NTD news
