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A few years ago, Jane Christensen of Camas, Wash., dragged her husband and teenage son to see a dance performance by Shen Yun in downtown Portland. The traveling Chinese troupe is well known around town for its omnipresent marketing campaign that rolls out once a year, with billboards advertising a show about “China Before Communism.”
The 2025 billboard features a beautiful young dancer taking a flying leap in front of a golden-hued heavenly kingdom. It’s visible above Interstate 5 and Southeast Powell and McLoughlin Boulevards, among pretty much every other commuter-heavy thoroughfare in and around the city.
Christensen plunked down $300 for the three tickets. She didn’t know anything about Shen Yun, other than that her aunts in Arizona deemed the show marvelous.
“My son did not want to go because he was 14, and I said, look, it’s good to enlarge your cultural experience, blah blah blah,” she says. “So we went and, at the break during the show, we were like, this is a little weird.”
At intermission, the Christensen family Googled Shen Yun to figure out what exactly they were watching on the Keller Auditorium stage. They learned that Shen Yun Performing Arts was created in 2006 by the persecuted Chinese religious movement Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa. Founded in China in the ’90s, its values include the importance of movement and meditation and adherence to the teachings of founder Li Hongzhi.
The Christensens felt uneasy but continued into the Keller for the second act. When the religious messaging ramped up, the family walked out before the end of the show.
Later that night over dinner, the family learned that Falun Gong is also behind The Epoch Times, a publication (and yet more billboards) that gained prominence after 2016 by promoting right-wing conspiracy theories and President Donald Trump. The Trump ties did Christensen in.
Thoroughly skeeved out, she started calling and writing letters to board members of the Portland’5 Foundation to demand they stop hosting Shen Yun at the Keller, a city-owned venue. Shen Yun has swung through the auditorium annually for nearly two decades, save for some dates rescheduled due to the pandemic. Portland’5 Centers for the Arts is part of the regional government agency Metro.
She got zero response.
In 2025, Christensen would have even more reason to be alarmed as the group behind the classical Chinese dance program returns to the Keller stage through Jan. 23.
A series of investigative articles published by The New York Times starting in August alleged that Shen Yun abuses young performers, including discouraging them from seeking medical care for injuries sustained during performances, pressing them to work long hours for low or no pay, and forcing them to endure emotional abuse and manipulation. The New York State Department of Labor has since opened an inquiry into Shen Yun. (Disclosure: Rachel Saslow is married to a New York Times reporter, but he was not involved in the Shen Yun coverage.)
Nearly all of the performers were sent to Shen Yun as children, some as young as 11, by family members who were ardent Falun Gong practitioners, the Times found. Performers reported dancing on dislocated kneecaps and sprained ankles and stitching their own wounds with hotel sewing kits. They received no formal medical attention for the injuries because the group believes true healing is a spiritual pursuit. Shen Yun and Falun Gong representatives denied discouraging medical treatment.
Despite the allegations, Metro stands behind presenting Shen Yun this week. Kimberlee Ables, Metro’s strategic communications and crisis manager, says the agency does not cancel contracted events unless there is “a threat to public safety or a breach of the licensing agreement.”
“Metro is aware of the allegations and recent reporting about the Shen Yun dance troupe,” Ables says. “It is important to remember people and organizations are innocent until proven at fault. The existence of an investigation does not constitute a legal basis to deny access to our stages unless formal actions or rulings mandate otherwise.”
Behind the scenes, the agency anticipated some level of public outcry over Shen Yun’s stand at the Keller and has been doing some mild damage control with angry patrons, according to internal emails provided to WW through a public records request.
Xiaoyang Wang, president of Oregon Falun Dafa Association, wrote to Heather Wilton, Portland’5 Centers for the Arts’ director of programming, booking and marketing, rebutting the Times’ “hit piece” on Falun Gong days after it ran last August, calling the reporting “twisted,” “ignorant” and “bigoted.”
“I hope the NYT article won’t be blocking people from coming to the Keller to witness the beauty and wisdom of true Chinese culture Shen Yun presents,” Wang wrote.
Wilton and Portland’5 interim executive director Brian Wilson decided to flag the issue for the Metro communications department, Wilton writing that it “seems like the kind of thing that could show up in The Oregonian. They’re booked at the Keller on Jan. 21–23.”
At least two dance patrons have written furious emails to Portland’5, imploring the organization to refuse to book or host any Shen Yun performances. “Please vet your bookings better and pay attention to the well-being and treatment of the staff of the companies you book,” one wrote.
Documents provided to WW show that the annual Shen Yun run at Keller was in the works well before the allegations came to light in August. The contract between Portland’5 Centers for the Arts and the Oregon Falun Dafa Association is dated Feb. 28, 2024. The association paid a deposit of $20,610 for this week’s performances.
From its seven performances in March 2022, Shen Yun grossed about $1.2 million from 11,320 ticket sales. In March 2024, Shen Yun did just under $1 million in sales for five performances. Metro takes a 6% cut, so last year that was $60,000, Ables says.
Keller staff will ensure compliance with all venue rules, but will stop short of directly monitoring the internal practices of any presenting organization, she adds.
Former performers told the Times they worked from early morning until close to midnight while on tour, during which they’re expected to carry and set up heavy equipment, rehearse, and perform up to two shows a day. Shen Yun has only one show a day scheduled at the Keller this year, for a total of three performances.
Portland’5 has clear agreements that Shen Yun use only professional union labor for stage operations, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees for equipment handling, Ables says.
Metro says it will closely monitor the New York Department of Labor inquiry. If the dance troupe’s travel pattern holds, the Oregon Falun Dafa Association will be getting ready to sign its annual contract with Keller Auditorium in February.
Christensen will not attend a Shen Yun performance this week at the Keller, though she is toying with the idea of protesting out front. Her outrage at feeling duped by Falun Gong remains intact, now amplified by the allegations of abuse from this summer.
“I can’t believe it’s still being shown in Portland, of all places,” she says.