SAVANNAH, Ga.—Sometimes, our last-minute decisions might be our best ones. This was certainly the case for Kyle Seeger, who bought tickets to see Shen Yun Performing Arts less than 24 hours before their performance at the Johnny Mercer Theatre in the Savannah Civic Center on Dec. 31.
Mr. Seeger, who is a health and spiritual coach, shared that he felt a strong calling to see the performance.
“I just kept seeing the advertisement and I … just kept feeling like I was supposed to go, that there’s something for me, and maybe even just the colors that were used in the advertisement,” Mr. Seeger said. “I kept seeing the billboard on my normal drive, and it’s like, I really need to go see that. So I decided to and I’m very glad that I did. I found it inspiring.”
Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by Chinese artists who made it their mission to show the world the true beauty of traditional Chinese culture through authentic classical Chinese dance and music.
The roots of traditional Chinese culture are in the spiritual teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. According to the Shen Yun website, all of Shen Yun’s performers meditate and practice self-cultivation to create art that is truly beautiful. The company says Shen Yun means “the beauty of divine beings dancing.”
Mr. Seeger said that he was moved to tears by the beauty of Shen Yun’s performance.
“I would say I very much did feel divinity coming through, which I believe was the goal in many ways,” he said. “I feel very sensitive to beauty when I experience beauty, especially coming through human beings. I was interested when they said that the name of the show means the inner beauty of human beings, of divine beings, being expressed through dance. I was very sensitive to that.”
“I was actually moved to tears many times throughout the performance … I’m just feeling very much in awe of what human beings are capable of and the beauty that we’re able to create.”
‘We’re Capable of Much More Than We’ve Settled For’
Mr. Seeger found that the beauty and values in Shen Yun’s performance were things he had been yearning for. He said that the performance showed him the spiritual beauty that human beings are capable of attaining.
“We’re capable of much more than we believe, and much more than we’ve settled for, especially in America,” Mr. Seeger said. “We’ve settled for this very kind of animalistic life.”
“We’re … physically capable [of] so much, but then spiritually as well. I think the expression of creativity and of beauty and of divinity and of love, these are all things that have been lost, and seeing them dramatized there is very moving for me because I just feel naturally, I’ve been very deprived in this American life of all of those things, by materialism. And so I’ve been seeking out experiences like this to try to regain that part of myself … I found it inspiring in that way.”
Mr. Seeger also said that he felt a connection with the performers and that he could sense the energy from the performance.
“I felt a kind of oneness or connectedness with the performers,” he said. “I was kind of going back and forth between, from my perspective, watching it, but then taking the perspective of the dancers and just seeing this whole interaction that was happening. I really feel [that] all of the minds are in unity working together to produce this.”
“There’s a harmony with the performers on the stage; there’s a harmony between all of them. But then we’re all sharing in that harmony… and so with the movements that they’re doing, the flow of their energy and the flow of their spirit was very evident. I could actually feel the spirit moving through the room.”
‘Colors Bring Life to Modern, Secular World’
Mr. Seeger also praised the colors of the performers’ costumes, all of which are handmade. He said that he had never seen a show with such vibrant costumes and that the colors brought life to the modern, secular world.
“It made me feel much more alive,” he said. “I felt a fullness of life. I felt very alive, and the whole thing was very alive.”
Mr. Seeger added that the performance made him feel very emotional and appreciative.
“I was feeling the emotions that were being communicated through the performance, but also from within myself … I’d be immersed in the dance, but then I would come back into myself and realize just how deeply I appreciate, how grateful I am just to have this experience and how incredible human beings are, [and] the deep love that I have for human beings … I felt gratitude and awe just within myself.”
When asked who he felt gratitude towards, Mr. Seeger’s reply was simple yet heartfelt.
“To God,” he said. “To the Creator.”
Reporting by Frank Xie and Wandi Zhu.
From The Epoch Times
