MIAMI—Catalina Stubbe was amazed to see that the revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization by Shen Yun Performing Arts was full of hope, and celebration.
“For me, it’s so beautiful to see all of this after what happened in China—to see them, that they pass this on to new generations, and that they continue living that beauty of their culture,” said Mrs. Stubbe, a national director with Moms for Liberty, CEO of Stubbe Ranch, and a Miss America judge.
Mrs. Stubbe saw Shen Yun with her family at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 11, and said it was “definitely a performance you have to see with your family.”
New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, and its mission to show audiences China before communism was what piques Mrs. Stubbe’s interest.
“It’s a show that showcases all the traditions of China, the beauty from before communism,” she said. “At some point, communism tries to replace … to remove God from your life and insert the government instead. This shows that reconnection, how humanity can finally be free when it’s reunited with God.”
Traditional Chinese culture is said to be divinely inspired, and Chinese civilization before communism was threaded with morals and principles drawn from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The idea of spiritual self-betterment was a common one, and society centered on the principle of harmony between heaven, earth, and humankind.
Mrs. Stubbe said that what Shen Yun showed was hope.
“For me, and for them, it gives a lot of hope,” she said. “What we Americans have always understood is that freedom isn’t free—you have to fight for it. … But there’s hope—lots of hope. And especially these people, the beauty they represented in their culture—it was amazing.”
Mrs. Stubbe added that the emphasis on traditional culture also meant it was a performance families could watch together.
“It carries a sense of innocence, which is great for children—they can really connect with it. It’s fun. The stories also, in a way, relate to their everyday lives. I saw it in my own kids—how they laughed, looked at each other, and sometimes identified with what was happening,” she said.
She appreciated the traditional values that were ever-present.
“It’s like a celebration of femininity and, at the same time, the bravery of the men who perform in such a graceful and dignified way,” she said. “Many times, I thought, ‘Wow, they still have that celebratory spirit after everything they’ve been through, everything they’ve endured, and everything we know about communism.’”
“Seeing them still express that through their dances—that, to me, is summed up in one word: resilience,” she said.
Reporting by Pachi Valencia and Catherine Yang.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
From The Epoch Times
