How Shen Yun Helped Me Renovate My Home

My name is Gary Liu. I’m a former Shen Yun dancer and currently teach dance in New York. Below are a few ways my time in Shen Yun helped me as I remodeled my home.

What do dance and DIY (do-it-yourself) home renovation have in common? At first glance, they are worlds apart. But the skills and values I learned from one have undoubtedly helped me achieve success in the other. Here are a few ways my dance career shaped my approach and mindset while remodeling a newly-purchased fixer-upper.

Learning new skills

Before I attended Fei Tian Academy of the Arts, dance was completely foreign to me. But, as life would have it, I was soon exposed to all that classical Chinese dance had to offer: tortuous stretching sessions where minutes felt like hours; fundamentals training classes that had me soaked in sweat; and moving and bending my body in ways I could never have imagined. I was also exposed to a tight schedule that forced me to up my game in time management.

I was intimidated by having to learn so many new things, and in the beginning, it was admittedly quite rough. But as I began to improve my flexibility, get a handle on the dance movements, and adapt to the rhythm of the daily schedule, I gained the confidence to continue learning. In retrospect, I’m thankful that I dared to venture into unknown territory, and I have many accomplishments to be proud of because of it.

So, what’s that got to do with my home remodeling project?

Before I purchased my house, home renovation was completely foreign to me. But, as life would have it, I was soon exposed to all that home renovation had to offer: long sessions of cutting, tiling, drilling, sanding and painting; working in the heat of summer that had me soaked in sweat; moving and bending my body in tight spaces and on awkward surfaces. I also created a schedule for myself to prevent laziness from throwing a spanner in the works.

Hopefully you can see that I had basically repeated a similar process!

Of course, the skills I learned in dance were quite different from those required for a DIY project, but I approached the learning process with the same mindset. As I hammered another nail into the wood flooring, soldered another copper pipe, and got the “hang” of drywall (DIY-ers will get that joke), I once again gained confidence. By the end of the remodel, I had another set of skills (and a collection of power tools) under my belt. And I owe a large part of that accomplishment to the perseverance and grit that I had developed in my years of dance.

Speaking of which…

Perseverance and grit

I want to share a ridiculous story that involves dryer lint. This happened in the laundry room, where I had just repaired, primed and painted all the walls. I had even installed a floating shelf and an IKEA cabinet. The only thing I didn’t touch was the dryer vent installed in the wall, which appeared to be in good condition.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. I soon discovered that this dryer vent was not connected to anything. I cut a small hole in the wall to investigate and was greeted with a cascade of dryer lint. Whoever was using this vent before was blowing dryer lint into the walls! As I stood there coughing up the lint that had just flown into my face, I realized that I had to tear down this entire wall, hence undoing all my previous efforts, and figure out how to fix the whole mess. I was not happy.

Fortunately, my years at Fei Tian and Shen Yun had taught me a thing or two about persevering through challenges. When I first started working toward the splits, it often felt like an exercise in futility; whatever progress I made one day seemed to vanish by the next. It took several weeks for me to finally see some measurable progress. Another time, I had just mastered the butterfly twist, but days later I suddenly found myself unable to perform it. And it stayed that way for several months no matter how hard I practiced. It was during such moments of hopelessness that I had to muster the remnants of my resolve to keep going. After years of suffering similar setbacks, I gradually enlarged my capacity to endure and not give up so easily.

Back to my lint problem: I knew better than to complain, so I took it in stride. I took down the IKEA cabinet and floating shelf, tore down the newly painted wall, and cleared out all the lint. Then I searched YouTube videos on how to install dryer vent ducting. Once that was taken care of, I repainted and reinstalled everything all over again. The whole ordeal cost me a few extra weeks, but I handled it with a positive mindset. And besides—who wants dryer lint inside their walls?

A journey of faith

The path of a dancer is not easy, and I certainly had my share of difficulties and setbacks during my dance career. The daily grind of stretching, training, rehearsing, studying, and a whole lot more was not something that could be overcome through my own dedication and willpower alone. Instead, there was an underlying motivation that carried me through the journey, and that was faith.

I mentioned earlier that I began my dance journey without knowing what dance really was, and I honestly had no idea if I’d be any good at it. Despite this, I made my decision after watching a Shen Yun show for the first time and learning about its mission. As an Australian-born Chinese, I had a really shallow understanding of traditional Chinese culture. Watching the performance gave me a two-hour glimpse into the richness of my own culture through the illustrations of traditional stories, ancient legends, and timeless values. I felt a strong connection and developed a desire to learn more about this “divinely-inspired” culture.

Moreover, there were a few dance pieces that portrayed the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. I began practicing Falun Dafa myself at a young age. I have personally experienced many health benefits and found guidance on how to be a better person by following the tenets of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance. After the CCP began the persecution of Falun Dafa in 1999, I spent many years with other local practitioners in continuous efforts to raise awareness in Australia. Watching Shen Yun’s portrayal of the persecution on stage helped me put the suffering of practitioners in perspective; they’re simply trying to live healthy and compassionate lives in China. I was shocked to learn that some of the artists were actually practitioners who had escaped persecution. That really drove home the reality of the situation.

I found Shen Yun’s mission to revive the beauty and goodness of China before communism to be deeply meaningful and strongly wished to be a part of it. My faith in this mission steered me towards dance in Shen Yun. This was also the underlying motivation that fueled my perseverance and got me through even the toughest of times. The lesson I learned is that the most powerful motivator comes from having faith in a purpose greater than myself.

Fast forward several years to me buying a house in dire need of some TLC. Although DIY projects often do not involve nearly as much pain, sweat, and tears as dancing, they are still time consuming and require significant amounts of effort. At the time, I knew I needed a motivating purpose greater than just acquiring new skills or simply finishing the job. Fortunately, that was easy to find: I wanted to create a warm and comforting home for my future family. Although it doesn’t sound quite as grand as reviving traditional culture, it was the driving force that gave me the wherewithal to tackle project after project over the course of a few years. Now, I’m proud to say that it has brought me to the finish line.

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I spent nine years as a student at Fei Tian and later as a dancer in Shen Yun. The experiences I gained and lessons I learned directly influenced my approach to my home renovation project. As I finish writing this blog post while sitting in my completed home, I feel proud to have been a Shen Yun artist and eternally grateful for everything that experience has taught me.