Pastor Sees Celebration of Chinese Culture in Shen Yun

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.—For many years, pastor Sean Keeley and his fiancée had wanted to see Shen Yun Performing Arts. They finally did so this year at the Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler Arts Center on March 4.

“The skill, the intricate weaving between the costumes and the movement and utilization of technology and ancient forms of dance … is just brilliant,” said Mr. Keeley.

Based in New York Shen Yun was founded in 2006 and quickly became the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Its mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture and to present the beauty of China before communism.

According to the Shen Yun website, traditional Chinese culture is deeply rooted in the spiritual teachings of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, all of which were abolished when the communist regime seized power.

As a pastor, Mr. Keeley shared how he felt about differences in spiritual belief seeing Shen Yun.

“I think there’s a lot that can be understood about acceptance and tolerance; while there can be a discrepancy about what we believe is true, but the ability to treat people with respect and dignity should not be unique to anyone.”

Shen Yun’s program is made up of a series of vignettes, some of which are story-based dances set in modern-day China that depict the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution of followers of Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice that teaches the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

“I know about Christians that have been persecuted in similar ways, so I am glad to see it brought out,” said Mr. Keeley.

Mr. Keeley said that he was touched by the depiction of a Falun Dafa practitioner holding on to her faith. He said he saw “the need to not … despair but both carry on and celebrate who she was and her faith, and not to lose heart and become vindictive, but continue to do what is right.”

Learning about the ongoing persecution in China, Mr. Keeley was able to recognize that the wrongs of the regime do not define China.

He said that Shen Yun was “not condemning China but showing what needs to change in China.”

“Sometimes people see something wrong in a country and then condemn the country,” said Mr. Keeley. “I don’t see that here. I see the country being celebrated while seeing something in that country that needs to be changed and people need to fight for [those] changes.”

“I like that there is a separation of understanding that because something is wrong somewhere, [it] doesn’t make the place bad. You’re celebrating Chinese culture that has been alive for many generations and showing the beauty of that.”

Shen Yun’s name means “the beauty of divine beings dancing.” Mr. Keeley said that he was able to see the divinity in Shen Yun’s performance.

“I believe we are all created in the image of God and as such there is beauty that God gives us to display His glory and I think that although I believe differently, I can see God’s glory that can be illustrated by the amazing skill and passion of the show.”

Reporting by Stacey Tang and Wandi Zhu.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.