Life at Fei Tian College, Where Shen Yun’s Future Stars Train

Is this ok? Do I need to say hi? Ok, um. My name is Shawn Ren and I'm the second tallest dancer at Fei Tian College. Is that too much? Can you repeat the question? It's a tough one. I'll tell you the honest answer— My name is Ryan Li, and I'm a freshman here at Fei Tian College. My name is Kathy Wu and I'm a second year graduate student in the Department of Dance. My name is Jesse Browde. I'm a freshman at Fei Tian College and I'm studying Chinese classical dance. My name is Rachel Chen and I received my bachelor's and master's from Fei Tian College majoring in viola performance. The first thing that really struck me about Fei Tian College is the environment here. I've been to a lot of places. I used to travel around Europe a lot but when I came here, I really felt like "Oh, this is something else." "This is something really, really beautiful." When I first saw the campus, I was like, "Wow." It kind of felt like I was time traveling. It's like you're transported back to the Tang Dynasty where at first, you see a lake, and then there are grassy hills that go up to these Tang Dynasty temples and pagodas, and a pavilion. It's just a place that everything is really peaceful. And we're only one and a half hours away from New York City which is the cultural capital of the world. We have the Met Opera, New York Philharmonic. Yeah, I mean, what more could you ask for? I felt like before I came to this college I was a very emotional person. I would practice for two minutes and then get bored. I couldn't really control myself no matter how much I wanted to do well. When I was at school in Australia I felt like I didn't see a purpose in me putting the effort to learn all I needed at school because I didn't see a deeper meaning a deeper goal that I wanted to achieve. And then, there was also the social media aspect where you come home from school and you look at your phone everyday, like "Scroll, scroll, double-tap, scroll, double-tap." I would really just waste away my day putting my emotional energy on them, putting my time on them kind of worrying about how I fitted into this world on the internet and this world of appearances. Even though I was young, I could, myself, feel like this is not where I want to be right now. I felt like I needed a safe haven. I needed somewhere where I could go and really focus. What hit me the most when I first came here was walking into the academic classes and it was so quiet. People were actually listening to the teacher. They actually looked like they wanted to learn. The school has a strict policy on smartphones for students. I feel like with this special environment here we have more interaction with each other and really build this friendship. Honestly, we don't use social media to interact that much and that just makes everything a lot calmer. Like, you don't feel like people are missing out on anything. There's a lot more human interaction and a lot less drama and unnecessary emotions and that just makes this learning environment really great. I feel like that also comes from the traditional culture that we are taught here. There's a saying in Chinese that goes "一日為師，終生為父" it's basically, "A day (as my) a teacher, a lifetime (I'll treat you as) a father figure." The teachers at Fei Tian really put in a lot of effort and really want to give the best to their students. I remember, one year in Chinese class we had students with many different levels of Chinese and the teacher basically made a different curriculum for each student because they wanted each student to improve in their own way. In Chinese culture, you have this duty where you take care of your parents when they grow old. There's a lot of those stories— there's the 24 stories of people who were exemplary models of filial piety. One person laid on the ice of a lake to melt it so he could get fish to make soup for his sick stepmother. She wasn't even his mother but that's the way his morality was or that's the way the society was. After learning that, when I look back, I felt like "Wow, I should really be more grateful for my parents." I was such a troublesome kid, and they did so much and it just never occurred to me that I should be not just nice to them, but actually have this filial piety and this is something that people have been doing for thousands of years. It's part of their culture and it's something that I can incorporate in my own life too. Everyone here, the students, the teachers, all the faculty— everyone here is like a family. You never feel like you're an outsider here. There's always this sense of everyone is looking out for each other, thinking of other people. There's a really strong sense of the group. We feel more connected than normal friends and we actually feel like siblings as well. It just feels very warm, being here. When people make mistakes, it's not about "Oh my gosh, this person made a mistake. How could he do that?" It's more like, "Oh, I want to really help this person and help them improve." You see people like, "Can you listen to this one passage?" and they help each other be better and then you actually feel that when they get gold or when they get to the final round people are genuinely happy for them and they find that their achievements are more rewarding than their own. That sense of community just feels very strong and it's something that holds everyone together. It makes you feel very solid, like you have roots. There are many times when I want to give up but, I think what Fei Tian has given me is this grit and this confidence in myself that no matter what happens, I can always get through it. I learned to keep going, to not stop. If we have class at 8:30 A.M. or 9:00 A.M. you always have to wake up earlier before that to get your morning workout done. And sometimes, we would run the lake or do some ab workouts or some jumps. Not only is it to train your endurance and your stamina it's also to train your mind. College here isn't really just a means of finding a job or being successful in life but rather truly becoming better people and using these values that we take at this college to bring us through the rest of our lives. The standards are very high here and there's definitely a high level of competition in terms of the music track. There are people who play incredibly well and you might think you've prepared a piece well enough but you play a jury and you realize that there are places that didn't go so well or perhaps professors will give you feedback that you didn't think about before. I think the most challenging part of being a music student at Fei Tian College is balancing your own self-improvement but also preparing for the practicum tour and there's academics at the same time. Because a lot of times, we'll have two essays, a quiz a dress rehearsal, a dance competition piece all at once. But, I think we don't really know our own limits as students and so, these challenges that Fei Tian provides really push me beyond what I thought I could accomplish. It's just a very good thing that we have so many things all together at once and when everything is finished, you're just like "Oh my gosh, that was such a journey." But I learned so much and I would not have traded it for anything. The only true sense of reward or success is when you know you've done something when you know you've pushed yourself through it and that you gave something of yourself up to earn it. Here, we all practice Falun Dafa and we all follow these principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance. And in this school, I just see everyone being really selfless all the time and putting other people before themselves and it really inspires me. There was always someone I could talk to someone I could lean on to ask for help and their guidance. I think that was a really big aspect of me being able to solidify my faith because, when I was in Australia I didn't really wholeheartedly believe in this faith. Only until when I came here and I see everyone else going through the same things and they are still pushing themselves to the limits just so they can be better as a person be better as a dancer or a musician so they can further their craft. My parents started practicing in the late 90's so naturally, when I was born a couple of years later I was brought into this environment. As I grew up, it's probably typical of teenage boys you start getting a little rebellious you don't really care that much and you kind of start doing your own thing. But luckily, my mom had me playing violin. So I think she kind of knew that she would send me here one day that only a place like this could truly change me. It was literally the moment I first entered— when I walked on campus, I looked around at the beautiful temples interacted with some of the best people I've ever met— I think that instantly just dug out something that was pure in my heart that has been buried for a long time. One of the main principles of Falun Dafa is to look inside yourself. No matter what happens no matter what kind of conflicts you get into or something goes wrong on stage—even if it's not you you look inside yourself and see what you can improve. A lot of times, we'll have conflicts like, "Oh, we should do this, or we should do that." Everyone's at a stalemate, nobody wants to back down. But then, having our faith helps us. We think back, we reflect on ourselves a lot and then, we realize that there's no need to push our own ideas out every single time. It's okay if you take a step back and let someone else put out their idea and then you just help make their idea even better. After looking within, I would think maybe I was being too selfish. I didn't think about what was better for the whole or caring more for other people. Everything happens for a reason. So if a conflict arises, maybe it's time for me to look inside and elevate my own state of mind. Sometimes when you can go back and meditate or read the scriptures, or just calm down and think about yourself it's a lot easier to realize "Oh, maybe what that person said to me today—" "it's actually not the end of the world." I feel like that's something people realize later on in life they look back, like "Oh, I did so many stupid things when I was young." I feel like with Falun Dafa now, I can look at myself and be like "Is what I'm doing now right?" "Is this the kind of person I want to be?" When that happens to everyone when everybody's doing that the power behind that is unstoppable. So, part of our curriculum we have this thing called "practicum." Every year, students from Fei Tian College go on tour with Shen Yun Performing Arts. There's probably nowhere else in the world where you can go on practicum with a professional arts company like Shen Yun Performing Arts and tour around the world and get that kind of real-life, hands-on experience that comes with not only performing, but off the stage too. Every time we come back from tour it's not like I think, "Wow, we performed 100 plus shows." It's more like, "Wow, I've learned so much." Every show is a new experience. Every show brings its new challenges. Every time we rehearse or every time we travel it brings different tribulations. And the way that we get through them the way we develop ourselves as a person and as a musician that's really education in itself. It's not just learning or practicing. It's experiencing life. I've been fortunate enough to get to visit many different countries. Shen Yun goes all around the world to a lot of different places like Europe, Asia. I myself, I've been to Taiwan, Great Britain, Italy, Spain Sweden, Germany, France, Brazil—all over the world. I feel like it's been really great for me as a person to be able to see and interact with all these different cultures. Most of classical music was written by these great composers that are from Europe. And then to be able to tour there and actually experience the culture I think that, for me, was really big. You go to places you never would've expected try different foods, absorb different cultures but apart from that, is what we're trying to do as dancers of Shen Yun and students of Fei Tian College. Everybody here, from the students to the teachers everyone is here for one goal. What drives us is actually the mission of reviving traditional Chinese culture. I have never seen anything so wonderful as this. To see Shen Yun work so hard to bring back the best that civilization has ever created. Chinese civilization is so powerful. Shen Yun has saved so much before it was too late. This is the real China and it's being suppressed. I was actually choked up at the end because I thought about all the work and the dedication that the artists put into this and I thought, "Man, oh man, what an achievement." If you're a teacher teaching them at that high level the reward for that teacher is beyond measure. They're obviously inspired by something greater than themselves. I think that just shines from them. I can see the spiritual discipline in their physical discipline. I can see their commitment and their sacrifice to be able to perform this tonight which is a real honor to be able to partake in that. When you improve as a person the art that you produce is more pure and more beautiful. Only really by elevating your moral character do you have something that's meaningful to others. Here in Fei Tian College, I think the biggest benefit I've gained is finding self-worth and self-purpose for a better cause, a bigger cause. Sometimes, I take a step back and it's a little bit humbling to be doing something this big to be sharing something this divine or this ancient, which is Chinese culture with the whole world.