Scott Krawczyk, dean of Conolly College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at LIU Brooklyn was blown away by the classical Chinese dance and music of Shen Yun.
“The music is very moving. I loved the combination of traditional Western instruments along with Chinese instruments,” said Krawczyk. “It was beautiful to see the two-stringed instrument [erhu] played, which you wouldn’t think had a lot of range and a lot of emotion. You could see her putting her own emotion into it. I thought it was moving.”
“One of the things I loved was the combination of the ethnic dances. I like the Hmong dance … but also the classical dances overlayed with the history of the stories,” he added.
According to Shen Yun’s website, traditional Chinese culture spans 5,000 years of the land’s history and has generated a system of values.
Chinese people believed in respecting the divine, a balance between man and nature, as well as the principles of benevolence, wisdom, justice, and propriety.
“It reminds us, or any audience member of the value of our cultural heritage and how we need to hold onto it and preserve it and celebrate it. So I’m thrilled to be a part of it and to learn. And I’m happy to see that it’s being perpetuated through this performance.”
“I think [this performance] can rejuvenate our own spirits. I think we can be reminded that the material world is very temporary, it’s just transient phase in our lives. … [People] are caught up on things that don’t matter because they are not eternal; they are not the permanence of life and love and the bonds that really matter, whether it’s family, or if it’s spiritual, with your god. .. I think this is what Shen Yun reminds us of, is that essential human and divine part that is in us.”
NTD News, Newark, New Jersey
