Jesse Browde has been on tour with Shen Yun Performing Arts, which brings the 5,000 years of Chinese civilization to stages everywhere in the world except China—but Sept. 4 was his first time performing solo on stage. “I’m very nervous!” he said after he performed in the semifinal round of the NTD International Classical Chinese Dance competition. Classical Chinese dance is a comprehensive dance system that was passed down through the imperial courts of ancient China, being refined with every dynasty. It has ties to martial arts, Peking opera, and folk traditions that developed alongside it over thousands of years. As dance is an art that had long been passed down from master to apprentice, much was lost when the communist regime took over and set its sights on destroying China’s cultural heritage. For his solo piece, “Loyalty Amidst Corruption,” Browde portrayed the ancient Chinese general in the midst of …