(Minghui.org) I had the honor of supporting Shen Yun performances by working in the backstage area for well over 100 performances in cities and countries throughout Europe beginning in 2006.
Always. when I went to other European countries to help with Shen Yun, I noticed all the hard working local practitioners helping with the Shen Yun performance. On one hand I was very happy to see all those practitioners in other countries to have the honor and possibility of helping Master, and save sentient beings via Shen Yun. However, at the same time I felt bad and sad, because as a main coordinator in Poland for several years I was not able to invite Shen Yun to Poland. Thus, I was not able to provide my Polish fellow practitioners a chance to work for this greatest project . I felt that this was my fault, and no one else’s.
This was motivating me even more to try my best and invite Shen Yun to Poland. I wanted to give my fellow practitioners the opportunity to help Master save sentient beings in Poland by being involved in the Shen Yun project. I felt that after all these years of not managing to fulfill my main responsibility, which was bringing Shen Yun to Poland -- I had, as a main coordinator, the obligation to do everything possible, and bring Shen Yun to Poland. I wanted to give my fellow practitioners this precious chance – working on this holy project.
Facing Venue and Scheduling Issues
Last time Shen Yun performed in Poland, it was in the city of Łódź in 2015, and it was a success. After this we focused for few years solely on getting the number 1 venue in the country. Even though our VIP team contacted all they should have contacted, we didn’t make the breakthrough and open up the best venue in Poland. Then, when we tried to invite Shen Yun to other venues in Poland, there were no available dates for Shen Yun, as it would have meant that Shen Yun would have had to travel very far East of Europe. Anyway, priority was given to Western capitals of culture. And then the Covid virus broke out. Thus, we did not have Shen Yun for seven years in Poland.
As main coordinator for Poland and main coordinator for Shen Yun performances in Poland, unfortunately with every year without Shen Yun in Poland I was no longer convinced that we would be able to invite Shen Yun again. With every year I was getting more and more passive about inviting Shen Yun to Poland.
The phone call last October from the European Shen Yun Logistic coordinator was like a wakeup call – he said there is a need to fill up the gaps in the European Shen Yun tour. Apparently, because of the Covid virus the situation in Europe was difficult to face. This was truly like a wakeup call. Right away I contacted practitioners who were working hard on contacting VIP about Shen Yun, and I told them about this phone call. The Covid virus restrictions were always more lax in Poland than in other European countries. I realized that we could help Shen Yun organize shows in Poland, especially considering we did not have Covid virus restriction influencing our scheduling Shen Yun shows. Also, this gave us the chance to bring Shen Yun back so far East of Europe as there were still gaps to fill in.
So right away we jumped into contacting all previously qualified venues. But, none of them had available dates.
Master said: “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
Then, we checked all other venues in Poland. We made a list of all 73 theaters in Poland and checked all of them for the audience capacity and stage dimensions. Actually, only those 3 previously qualified venues we contacted before, out of all 73 venues, met the minimum requirements, and none of them had available dates.
We started to check in other not qualified venues the available dates. And soon we had available date in one of the not qualified venues. I send this venue details to the responsible person – and it was quickly rejected because of not enough audience seats.
But in my mind, I just heard Master words: “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I asked this responsible person if I can still double check this venue with the Shen Yun Office, and he said in all previous years even much nicer venues with similar number of seats were rejected, but if I wanted I could give it a try. And so I did. Soon I received the feedback that not enough audience seats is not the biggest problem, but there are other problems with the venue which gave it a not qualifying, namely the stage is way too small, thus not having enough space for quick change rooms and no place for piano at all.
The advantage of helping in the backstage area for Shen Yun shows all over Europe was that I gained quite some good knowledge and understanding of what Shen Yun needs on stage, and I have seen different ways of handling different difficult technical issues.
Having received another “no” from the Shen Yun Office saying there is not enough space for quick change rooms and piano – I very humbly responded to the Shen Yun Office if they could kindly check following suggestions: that actually the fire curtain in the back area can be lifted thus making space for the quick change rooms in the back. Besides, the position where the piano would normally be put, is a really big door and huge corridor outside and we could keep the piano in this corridor and then push it on stage when it is needed.
Deep inside I felt as well that this was a test of how much I, as a main coordinator, deep in my heart wished for Shen Yun to come back to Poland, a test of how much I would push forward, and overcome difficulties to bring Shen Yun to Poland.
After some time, I received a positive answer for my suggestion – that indeed it can be done, and soon we proceeded to finalize the contract and just two months before the shows in January we signed the contract and started promotion. And like this, thanks to benevolent Master’s arrangements, we had Shen Yun back in Poland. And Polish practitioners could finally join in to help Master save sentient beings in Poland. We were working hard, and sales were going well and two weeks before the show we added additional shows. In the end we had a full house for all three shows. Thank you, Master.
In January, standing in the backstage during the shows, I was extremely happy to see Shen Yun performing in Poland again, but I was totally exhausted, mentally and physically, and I could not wait for vacation with my family that was planned right after the shows.
But right then standing in the backstage area during our evening show I learned there is another gap in the Shen Yun tour in May, and there was a real need to help Shen Yun and fill the gap. Although being totally exhausted, right away I shared with my fellow cultivators. The next day, the first thing in the morning, we again called all qualified and not-so qualified venues.
We found another venue not totally qualified, but they had only dates partially fitting the gap in the tour.
But, again, I remembered Master words: “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
We contacted the venue and explained that it’s great they offered us some dates, but those dates are not really fitting the available dates in the tour, and if they can move the dates around, we would gladly rent the venue. After some discussion the venue owners agreed, and soon we signed another contract and invited Shen Yun again to Poland, this time for the month of May. The shows in May were a success as well with all three shows performed before a full house. The venue management said it was first time since opening that a show managed to draw a full house, and we not only had done it for one show, but for all three shows.
While Shen Yun was performing in this city, at the same time we had extensive talks with this venue management about dates for 2023. Unfortunately, they didn’t have available dates that would fit Shen Yun’s schedule. They said this time they could not help us with moving the dates, because there were already other bookings.
But, again, I remembered Master words: “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
I decided to take this approach: We told the venue, that we would really like to come back in 2023, and we kindly suggested, that maybe the venue could contact the event company which already booked our available dates and ask if this company would consider moving their booking to some other day, thus giving us the dates that we needed. And right away we sent a text message to all Polish practitioners asking them to send forth righteous thoughts. After a few days, the venue responded that indeed the other company agreed to move their booking to some other date, and thus those dates were given to us. Thank you, Master.
Soon after we received dates from another very nice venue in which we hadn’t performed before. We really wanted to invite Shen Yun there, but out of the dates given by the venue, only one day was matching the gap in the Shen Yun tour. This time, this venue could not move their dates to match our dates.
But, again, I remembered Master words: “When it looks impossible and is said to be impossible, give it a try and see if it is possible.” (Lecture Nine, Zhuan Falun)
So, we found out which European city was scheduled before this date, and we contacted their coordinator and described the whole situation – in short that there is this very nice venue, in which we were trying to get for several years, and they never gave us any dates. And now they offered us two days, but only possibility to perform there will be if this previous city would cancel their last show so Shen Yun could come one day earlier to Poland and perform. After exchanging messages between this coordinator and the Shen Yun office – soon the decision was made: this country changed their booking and freed up their last day so as to give Shen Yun the chance to come to Poland again. I want to again give my thanks to this country and coordinator for making it possible.
I’m truly thankful to Master’s immense compassion for making all these arrangements that made it possible for Shen Yun to return to Poland.
Thank you, Master, and fellow practitioners!
(Submitted to the 2022 European Fa Conference)
Views expressed in this article represent the author's own opinions or understandings. All content published on this website are copyrighted by Minghui.org. Minghui will produce compilations of its online content regularly and on special occasions.
