Radio Hosts: "It made me cry many times"

By Epoch Times Staff, August 25, 2009

Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick, both radio hosts (Cindy Drukier/The Epoch Times)

(Clearwisdom.net) WASHINGTON--Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick, both radio hosts, were at the opening of this season of the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts in Washington on Tuesday evening, Aug. 25. The special invitation only performance at the Kennedy Center Opera House enthralled the audience.

Mrs. Fitzpatrick spent her first year of law school in Shanghai and has traveled back there many times. She worked in Federal Defense and the Office of Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security before turning to journalism as a radio executive and host. She writes on tourism.

Mrs. Fitzpatrick was very moved by tonight's performance, "The artistry was wonderful. ... The tradition and the beauty and grace and the energy, it was wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I could watch it again tomorrow night."

"I think the art history, and the creativity and the energy, the beauty--it's phenomenal. I'm speechless. It's so beautiful. It made me cry many times."

"The spirituality" stood out the most for her.

"I loved the dances that focused on the spirituality and the humanity of people and the goodness and the redemption. I think that's what really touched my heart. But I loved, because I'm a water baby, I loved the water dance and the costumes and just the artistry, the creativity--creating a water fall, water flowing--with a fan and scarf. It was gorgeous."

Mrs. Fitzpatrick was enraptured by the entire show. When asked what her favorite performance was, she replied, "It's like asking me what's my favorite country. I love to travel and so I don't have a favorite country and honestly every single dance was absolutely gorgeous.

"If I had to pick a favorite segment, I would say it was the segment with the erhu. Oh, I loved that instrument, one of my favorites as a former cellist. It's very close to the cello in richness and sound, ... but every single dance segment was gorgeous. It really touched me and it made me cry. It was beautiful."

She found the erhu playing so beautiful and so moving it brought tears to her eyes. "Beautiful things make me cry, and it was very, very beautiful, very rich."

She marveled at the water piece, and mentioned that "overall, some of the scenes were colorful and graceful."

Mr. Fitzpatrick, who also hosts a radio travel show, found Shen Yun an amazing experience.

"I think the show was extraordinary and a fantastic display of Chinese culture, dance, music, and just a wonderful performance. For me I never experienced that before, first hand, so it was a first time experience, and it was a wonderful experience.

"One of the things that we like to do is to promote global citizenship, and cross-cultural understanding, and so getting time when cultures can come together, that's all a good thing.

"Just having that exposure, seeing a part of Chinese culture, understanding some of the religious as well as spiritual underpinnings of the culture, and seeing how that speaks to so much in our cultures as [to] whether it's your own religious or social perspective, its always a good thing, and you can see a lot of the universal ties there, and that's all a great thing even though that's a culture that's 5,000 years old," he commented.

Mr. Fitzpatrick appreciated many aspects of Shen Yun but was particularly moved by the spiritual messages of hope, tolerance, and compassion.

"Some of the visual elements in which folks perished and then were taken to heaven, so to speak, I think there is a clear perspective of Judeo-Christian experience, in the west, so that was interesting even though that's Buddhism, but there is universality there, that I appreciate."

Mr. Fitzpatrick also appreciated the artistry of Shen Yun. "I thought the artistry was fantastic, and you see so many different elements."

After seeing Shen Yun, Mr. Fitzpatrick felt that he had a better understanding of how traditional Chinese culture has impacted our current society. He explained, "You know, there is really [never a thing] that's new. It's always a kind of "reinventionism;" its being done before, and so, clearly, you know, the Chinese have inspired a whole realm of things whether its dance or language and so forth."

Would Mrs. Fitzpatrick come back to see Shen Yun next year?

"Absolutely, absolutely. In fact, I told some of the organizers that we would love to be a local media sponsor for the dance program next year."

"I would love to have a clip of this interview so I could ... promote you on our website too."

Leigh Smith contributed to this article.

A six-run show will be held at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center Opera House on August 26-30.

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