{"id":544484,"date":"2026-03-18T12:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/544484\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:35:09","slug":"shen-yun-is-an-opportunity-to-be-uplifted-and-educated-says-mississauga-deputy-mayor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/544484\/","title":{"rendered":"Shen Yun Is an \u2018Opportunity to Be Uplifted and Educated,\u2019 Says Mississauga Deputy Mayor"},"content":{"rendered":"

MISSISSAUGA, Canada\u2014Mississauga Deputy Mayor John Kovac says he is impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts every time he attends the show and also notes \u201cseeing the smiles\u201d on people\u2019s faces as they come out after a performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not every day you get to see such classical Chinese artistry on display in this way, in a very formal fashion,\u201d Mr. Kovac said after attending the matinee show at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont., on March 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m so appreciative\u201d that Shen Yun has been performing in Mississauga for more than 10 years, he said, adding that Mississauga is Shen Yun\u2019s \u201chome as much as it\u2019s my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just been great for the residents that I represent. \u2026 They have this opportunity to be uplifted and educated, and enthralled by the beauty that has been on display,\u201d Mr. Kovac said.<\/p>\n

New York-based\u00a0Shen Yun Performing Arts<\/a> is a world-renowned classical Chinese dance and music company founded in 2006. The company\u2019s mission<\/a> is to revive and share with the world China’s traditional, divinely inspired culture, which was nearly all but lost during the Cultural Revolution in that country from 1966 to 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe choreography is impressive and there are always little changes that are made each year,\u201d Mr. Kovac said of Shen Yun\u2019s performances. Each time he comes to see the show, he notices parts that are new and different, and that is one of the reasons \u201cyou would want to come out each and every year\u201d to see it, he said.<\/p>\n

Shen Yun\u2019s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance<\/a>, which, alongside ballet, is one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world, the dance company’s website<\/a> explains. This dance form has its own training in basic skills, physical expression, and postures and involves leaps, flips, spins, and other difficult tumbling techniques, the company says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe beauty of the dance, the music, \u2026. the crowd is always full here. That is so impressive,\u201d Mr. Kovac said, adding that the last pieces in particular left him feeling \u201cmesmerized.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last pieces included dance stories and a song that highlighted the ancient Chinese people’s reverence for the divine and their faith in the power of goodness and compassion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a spiritual aspect to that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kovac also noted that it\u2019s \u201cvitally important\u201d to preserve ancient and traditional culture, to \u201crecognize what has come before, to never forget it, and … to highlight it, bring it to the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides performances of classical Chinese dance and Chinese folk dance and ethnic dance, Shen Yun features story-based dance<\/a> pieces that bring to life important values and values from traditional Chinese culture.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kovac said seeing Shen Yun allowed him to reflect on how \u201cthere\u2019s only so much time in the day, but it\u2019s really better served being with loved ones, praying, meditating, being in peace,\u201d especially today when technology plays such a big role in many people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can find great happiness through the more modest, simple pleasures in life [like] what Shen Yun brings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just fills you with happiness and gratitude,\u201d Mr. Kovac said of the Shen Yun performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sounds somewhat clich\u00e9, but it’s really true. All you got to do is set up the cameras and let them roll as people come out of a Shen Yun Performing Arts event, and you just see the eyes are bright, they’re wide-eyed, and people are smiling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He noted that the show also has \u201cquite a bit of humour embedded within each program, as much as there is \u2026 polish, the professionalism, and the beauty of each and every kind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mississauga Deputy Mayor John Kovac\u2019s letter to Shen Yun Performing Arts ahead of its 2026 performances in Mississauga, Ont.<\/p>\n

\"Mississauga<\/p>\n

Mississauga Deputy Mayor John Kovac\u2019s letter to Shen Yun Performing Arts ahead of its 2026 performances in Mississauga, Ont.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Shen Yun\u2019s return to Mississauga this year, Mr. Kovac sent greetings to the performing arts company, relaying congratulations on the company\u2019s 20th anniversary and its return to Canada as part of its 2026 global tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cShen Yun\u2019s dedication to reviving China\u2019s 5,000 years of traditional culture and sharing universal values such as compassion, courage, loyalty, and freedom is truly commendable,\u201d he wrote in the greetings letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour performances offer audiences a remarkable opportunity to experience classical Chinese dance and music while celebrating cultural diversity and artistic excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reporting by NTD and Olivia Gomm.<\/p>\n

NTD is a media sponsor of\u00a0Shen Yun Performing Arts, covering\u00a0audience reactions\u00a0since 2006.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MISSISSAUGA, Canada\u2014Mississauga Deputy Mayor John Kovac says he is impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts every time he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194297],"tags":[49,48,55405],"class_list":{"0":"post-544484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mississauga","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-mississauga"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}