Shen Yun Campus Host 100 Government and Community Leaders 

On Saturday, October 17, the Falun Gong community at Dragon Springs welcomed more than 100 guests, including government officials, business leaders, media, attorneys and artists. Visitors toured the grounds, watched the documentary Unbroken: The Untold Story of Shen Yun and met Shen Yun dancers and musicians, including several who appear in the film.

Dragon Springs is a 400-acre campus in the town of Deerpark, in Orange County’s stretch of the Hudson Valley. The campus includes a Tang dynasty-style temple, the training center for Shen Yun Performing Arts and two New York-registered schools, Fei Tian Academy of the Arts and Fei Tian College, where many of the company’s performers were trained.

Guests included Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler; New York State Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, whose district includes Dragon Springs; Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano; former Orange County Court Judge Richard Guertin; and former U.S. Congressman and Ambassador to Denmark Richard Swett. Several said afterward that the film had opened their eyes to the transnational repression the artists face from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

What Guests Took Away

The visit began with a guided walk through the temple buildings and school grounds, followed by a screening of Unbroken in the campus theater. Afterward, Steve Lance, an investigative journalist and the film’s executive producer, moderated a panel with Shen Yun artists, and guests met the performers during a reception.

Guertin, now an attorney in Middletown, said he was impressed by the performers’ determination and conviction. “It saddens me that there’s such a concerted effort by the communist Chinese to try to undermine and really hurt something that is very, very good,” he said.

Swett said he first visited the property more than 20 years ago, when it was “little more than a hillside,” and was amazed by what has been built since. He said Shen Yun’s story needs a “much broader, wider audience.” “All of us … need to chip in and help make that happen,” he added.

Frank Dellapolla, a former principal dancer with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, said he was struck by the “scope of what the company is going through,” especially because it “seems to have the same principles that a real American would certainly appreciate, treasure, and want to fight for.”

Rod Martin, an entrepreneur and the founder of Martin Capital, called the documentary outstanding and said it showed the performers’ extraordinary courage. “It tells you how brittle the [Chinese] Communist Party really is that they have to worry themselves about a dance troupe. I mean, how pathetic is that?” he said.

Artists Describe Years of Threats

About two dozen of the company’s dancers and musicians joined the guests, some of them students at the campus schools. Several explained to guests about what the threats against Shen Yun have done to their daily lives.

Principal dancer Justina Wang still remembers the shock of the first bomb threat. Many more have followed. “There’s so many bomb threats, every single year,” she said, calling the attacks on her troupe “a little bit overwhelming.”

Principal dancer Jared Ren said the incidents have multiplied in recent years. “It just felt like things came popping up one after another,” he said. Security sweeps are now routine: “All of a sudden, bomb-sniffing dogs are part of our daily lives.”

Dancer Sunni Zhou grew up in Toronto, where she first saw Shen Yun as a child. This spring, a bomb threat forced the venue there to cancel a performance shortly before it was due to begin. “How could this be possible?” she asked. “It’s where it all started for me and now, they’re canceling the show.”

Artists also spoke about press coverage of the company. “The New York Times and some other media have published untrue reports about us,” lead dancer Tiffany Lin told NTD Television. “We also hope the good neighbors around us can truly understand us and give us more support.”

The artists said the documentary helped them see the incidents as connected rather than random. “It really shows how this whole thing is so systematically organized,” said principal dancer Andrew Fung. 

The Story Behind “Unbroken”

Unbroken premiered in New York on March 24, 2026, and has since been screened in more than 20 cities in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. Directed by Fiona Young and produced by Sincere Pictures, it is the first feature-length documentary about Shen Yun.

The film primarily follows one family: brothers Jesse and Lucas Browde, who dance with Shen Yun, and their father, Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center. Their story runs alongside Lance’s investigation into the bomb threats and media attacks Shen Yun has faced. The film traces them to a coordinated effort by the CCP.

“This documentary captures not only the extraordinary artistic achievements Shen Yun has made in just 20 years, but also the resilience that made it all possible,” said Shen Yun Vice President Ying Chen.

Shen Yun was founded in New York in 2006 by Falun Gong practitioners, many of whom had fled persecution in China. Its programs include pieces depicting that persecution, which began in 1999. About 100 Shen Yun performers and their families have been directly affected by it, according to the Falun Dafa Information Center. 

Beijing has tried to stop Shen Yun since its founding, most often through Chinese diplomats pressing theaters to cancel. The Center has documented 389 incidents targeting the company since 2006. Since March 2024, that pressure has included 318 anonymous bomb and death threats against Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun and officials who support them, one of which forced the evacuation of the Kennedy Center. Police in Taiwan and Vancouver have traced some of the threats to PRC.

Leaked notes from 2024 meetings of the CCP’s Ministry of Public Security call for turning American public opinion and U.S. agencies against Falun Gong and Shen Yun.

Beginning in August 2024, The New York Times published a series of articles on Shen Yun and on the faith of Falun Gong itself. The articles falsely depict Shen Yun as abusive and the faith community as hoodwinked zealots. Shen Yun disputes the claims, and the Center’s review found dubious elements in the reporting that raise serious concerns about journalistic ethics and the irreparable harm done to a religious minority already persecuted in China.

This article refers to several reports from The Epoch Times and NTD. The original reports can be found at TheEpochTimes.com, EpochTimes.com (Chinese) and NTDTV.com (Chinese).