(Clearwisdom.net)--Following the Shen Yun Performing Arts show at
the Kennedy Center Opera House on Jan. 20, a number of Washington
charities hosted a 300-strong cast reception held at the Kennedy
Center rooftop Atrium. Sponsoring the event were the Lantos
Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, the Asia Vision
Foundation, New Tang Dynasty Television, and DC Magazine.
Representing the Lantos Foundation, Former Congressman Richard
Swett addressed the gathered dignitaries with these words:
"Let me say welcome to you from the Lantos Foundation, I am excited
to be here tonight. As mentioned, I have been participating in all
of the performances since the beginning of the program three years
ago. We have seen tremendous artistic displays, but most
importantly I have been very proud to be associated with my
father-in-law, [with] the Foundation that was established in the
memory of my father-in-law.
Former Congressman Richard Swett speaks at the Kennedy Center Shen Yun cast reception on January 20, 2010
It's important that this association be continued with the Shen
Yun performances because the messages that these performances bring
to the world are certainly the messages that Tom went all over the
world to bring, about human rights protection and freedoms in
countries where these things were not a high priority on the
country's list.
It's a great pleasure to be here tonight with my mother-in-law,
Annette Lantos. It's great to have Annette here and hopefully my
wife Katrina, who is heading up the Foundation with her mother,
will show up a little bit later. But let me just talk one moment
about Shen Yun and what I have seen, not only tonight but over the
last two years.
These performances that we have seen so elegantly and beautifully
described by Congressman Kucinich, are certainly a connection not
only between two cultures--between the West here in the United
States and all the other countries that [the Shen Yun artists]
travel to all around the world--and the Shen Yun group that has
practiced so diligently, and so expressively displayed their
artistic abilities. What it does is it connects us to a China that
many of us in the world would have never known until we met this
group.
These are the artistic traditions of an old China--a China that had
the principles and the values that so many of us believe in and so
many of us have felt so deeply about all our lives. To see the ways
that these are portrayed and to understand that we are actually
being exposed to a China that many of us have never seen, is, I
think, a truly wonderful experience that connects us to that
country in a way that couldn't happen in any other form. So it is
in my mind, a very special way to make that connection.
It is [due to] an incredibly deep and sensitive portrayal of a
wonderful culture that has such valuable traditions and such
wonderful principles on which it's founded that I know that the
world is a better place because of Shen Yun performances. All that
they do will in fact make a great contribution to broadening
understanding of the Chinese culture and to reuniting us with that
culture as time goes on. Every year they update and include new
performances.
I have found this to be a most wonderful and enjoyable evening. So
I want to congratulate the Shen Yun cast and all of the producers,
and the parents and people who have been participants, in making
this possible. We at the Lantos Foundation want to wish you
continued success--keep that show going on--the show must go on!
And thank you so much for the wonderful spirit that you bring into
the world everywhere that you go. Thank you very much!
Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts
