(Clearwisdom.net) Sunday afternoon, July 11, 2010 was Shen Yun Performing Arts' final performance in Los Angeles on its West Coast summer tour. The audience at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion were dazzled, enlightened, and inspired with the authentic, majestic culture of China. Many people in the audience were moved by the stories of persecution. Although some were already familiar with the persecution, others in attendance had no idea about what has been going on in China.
Dr. Lin Levine, a psychotherapist in Los Angeles , attended the Saturday evening show and was moved by what she experienced. Dr. Levine said, "I loved it; it was... educational to see that religious and spiritual persecution exists so strongly and cruelly in China, still. I know that it exists in many countries, but I just didn't realize how oppressive it is at the moment. So it really brought it to my attention and I'm more enlightened and aware of it."
Milka Miller, who owns her own wine distribution business, was another patron who didn't know about the persecution. Ms. Miller said, "I didn't know that was going on, but it apparently still does, which I find very hard to believe, but it obviously does." What was surprising about her lack of awareness was that her husband Mike, who also attended, is a history buff, who had read about the ongoing persecution in China.
Yet, others who attended the show were more aware of the Chinese government and its false public persona. A friend of the Miller's, Shanta Herzog, also attended and had some experience with the disconnect between the image of China and what is actually happening. Ms. Herzog is an executive director of the Children's Film and Television Center of America and head of the Indian Film Society. She and her husband spent time in China the year after the Tiananmen Square massacre, and came to know a little about how the current regime presents itself to the world, compared to the actual situation. "As we got to talking to some of the people, you realized, there's a lot going on behind the scenes that many people don't find out about," she said. "The façade is so beautiful, but what is going on behind it is really upsetting," she said, of the appearance of China to foreigners.
She said that Shen Yun "is beautiful, it's stunning," but she was also "glad that they're talking about the problems that still exist in China, and I hope it will help people to understand more about it, because I think we need to know."
Film producer and author Michael Mandeville, and his daughter Julia.
Michael Mandeville also knows about the persecution of Falun Gong. In fact, Mr. Mandeville studied Chinese culture in depth for his work. "I read extensively about it for a novel I wrote, which had to do interestingly enough, with the communists and their oppression. And here you see it in the show," Mandeville said, regarding the communist persecution of Falun Gong, which is presented in two dramatic and heartfelt dance pieces in Shen Yun.
He said he "thought it was extraordinary" that the show included a statement about "what's going on over there, and that people should realize it. Not only is it for our amusement and entertainment, but also that we get something out of it--to realize it, that the simple act of having a religion or a belief shouldn't be condemned," Mandeville acknowledged. "I think it actually shows much more courage in this show than sometimes what Hollywood could show in making a movie about that very subject [Falun Gong], which is so ripe to be done, yet it is not being done. And here you have it in the show," concludes Mandeville, "boldly, thoughtfully, and to make people think."
Sources:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39023/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39076/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39003/
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Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
