Introduction to the Hyo Jeong and Hyo Jeong Shim Chung ballet

Julia (Hoon Sook) Moon September 7, 2017 Adrienne Dellas [Thornton] conceived of adapting the story and created the ballet — Kevin Picard composed the music

Respected guests, blessed families from around the world, ladies and gentlemen, how are you? First, I would like to give my sincere congratulations to the beautiful brides and grooms who received the precious blessing today. I pray that you will form eternally happy, ideal families who receive Heavenly Parent’s and True Parents’ true love. We have heard many songs so far. I too, am a fervent Insooni fan. However, are you ready to enter the elegant world of ballet?

I am very happy and grateful that Universal Ballet is able to offer this small expression of our sincerity here in this place, where Unificationists from around the world have gathered, longing for True Father, during the fifth anniversary of his Seonghwa. It is a great honor that we, Universal Ballet, can perform Hyo Jeong Shim Chung for all the members here and for all the members around the world watching through the live broadcast as the meaningful finale of the culture festival. I offer my infinite gratitude to True Mother, who gave us this opportunity to stand on this precious stage. The True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, substantially attend Heavenly Parent and have perfected the model heart of a true child, true sibling, true husband and wife, and true parents. They achieved hyo jeong, the perfected heart of a child toward Heaven. Hyo jeong is the greatest duty that humankind can fulfill and offer to Heavenly Parent and the ultimate spiritual and heartistic plane that we must perfect. This hyo jeong is expressed specifically in South Korean culture, rooted in the ideology of filial piety found in Heavenly Parent’s fatherland. True Parents have noted from early on that Korea’s ideology of loyalty, filial piety, and chastity awaken people to their original nature from the origin of creation.

Finally, in True Parent’s messages, True Father spoke about the filial daughter Shim Chung, the virtuous woman Chun Hyang, and the loyal subject Lee Sun Shin. True Parents wished for the creation of cultural materials based on filial piety in order to awaken and give rebirth to all people of the world through culture. Accordingly, Universal Ballet, which True Parents founded as a memorial project to Heung Jin nim in 1984, has been performing Shim Chung, a ballet piece we created, which shows the spirit of filial piety through a child who offers her life for her parent. We performed Hyo Jeong Shim Chung for the first

time during the Asian Games Cultural Festival in 1986. Since then, we have performed it two hundred times in forty cities in eleven countries. It has established itself as a ballet piece recognized by the world as a representation of Korea. In 2016, we celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the creation of the piece and gave a performance in the Seoul Arts Center’s Opera Theater. This year, during the third Seoul Arts Center Awards, Shim Chung received not only the grand prize in the performance category but also received two more awards overall. Thank you, True Parents!

In fact, Shim Chung is the first piece ever given two awards. True Parents have supported the ballet since its inception, and when True Mother heard this report, she wished to share this joy with the world’s members and gave us the blessing and grace to be able to perform this ballet during the Seonghwa Festival. The performance you will watch today is a highlight performance, which has condensed Shim Chung into one hour. I feel that Shim Chung, which premiered thirty-one years ago, was a prescient performance, which allowed the world know about hyo jeong culture from early on. I believe Hyo Jeong Shim Chung is not simply a story about a daughter trying to make her blind father see but it expresses True Parents’ sacrificial lives in working to liberate Heavenly Parent, who had fallen into endless sadness because of having lost his children. True Mother has said the completed stage of faith is not belief but attendance. After True Father’s Seonghwa, Mother has been fighting each minute and second with an ardent heart as she works hard to lead the providence in order to absolutely establish the nation of Cheon Il Guk. The story of Korea’s Shim Chung, passed down for many years, is a revelation. The filial daughter Shim Chung’s life of sacrifice depicts True Mother’s life of hyo jeong toward Heavenly Parent. As we commemorate the fifth anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa, let us do our best to become the light of the world as sons and daughters who fulfill their duty of hyo jeong toward Heavenly Parent and True Parents. I dedicate this performance of Universal Ballet’s Hyo Jeong Shim Chung with our love, respect and gratitude to True Parents. Thank you.