by Jon Kunsman
After selling out New York City’s Lincoln Center in 2012 and other top venues around the world, Shen Yun Performing Arts has become a global cultural sensation.
The remarkable journey of Shen Yun began six years ago with one company. Now, Shen Yun’s three dance companies and three full orchestras circle the global each year, performing for more than a million audience members, in over 100 cities, across five continents. Every year, Shen Yun produces an all-new show, and every year, they raise the bar. So what is it that makes them so unique?
Vanguard of a New Renaissance
Literally translated, Shen Yun is a Chinese term that means the beauty of divine beings dancing. Today it also means an extraordinary performing arts company that embodies the beauty, virtue, and spiritual depth of China’s 5,000-year-old culture.
“Shen Yun is essentially the vanguard of a profound renaissance of traditional Chinese culture, and their performances are providing people with an experience of inspiration, wonderment, and just exquisite beauty that so many people tell me is like nothing they’ve ever seen before,” explains Shen Yun emcee Leeshai Lemish.
The Forgotten China
For millennia, China was known as “the Celestial Empire.” Myths and legends throughout history record that the Middle Kingdom was continually guided by celestial beings. But today, where can you actually go to discover authentic Chinese culture? Surprising as is may seem, the answer is not China.
After more than 60 years of Communist rule in China, and especially after the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 70s, Chinese traditional culture – with its values of benevolence, honor, propriety, wisdom, and piety – was all but completely destroyed.
To restore and revive Chinese traditional culture, a group of overseas Chinese artists established Shen Yun in New York in 2006. Today, Shen Yun counts among its artists many of the world’s finest classical Chinese dancers as well as musicians from world-renowned symphonies and conservatories. With its unprecedented collection of artists trained in traditional Chinese culture, Shen Yun is indeed ushering in a renaissance of performance art in the great classical Chinese tradition.
Timeless Art
At the core of Shen Yun performances is classical Chinese dance, an age-old art form complete with its own system of training and movements. Dynasty after dynasty, it was passed down among the people, in imperial palaces, and ancient plays.
One of the things classical Chinese dance is known for is its expressiveness. Dancers can vividly depict a wide range of emotions and virtues—righteousness, loyalty, benevolence, and tolerance, to name a few. Movements can be masculine or soft, vigorous or graceful, somber or playful. Such range is achieved through a dancer’s perfection of three key features of classical Chinese dance: form, technique, and bearing.
The external form of Chinese dance includes hundreds of unique movements and postures. An accomplished performer makes them appear effortless, but they require immaculate coordination of the entire body that takes years of rigorous training. A dancer’s every faculty and body – from toes to fingertips, from the angle of the head to the direction of the gaze – must be in perfect harmony.
Classical Chinese dance also has an extensive array of challenging techniques. Jumps, spins, flips, aerials, and other very difficult tumbling moves supplement and enhance the dance’s expressive powers while adding vigorous physicality and tremendous energy to the show.
Bearing, or “Yun”, is something each dancer cultivates, and it refers to the inner spirit and meaning of the dance being brought forth through the dancer’s expressions. In classical Chinese dance, a dancer’s inner world – his or her fundamental character – is just as important as the accuracy of his or her movements. It is an expression, or melody, that comes from within each dancer and fosters a profound connection with the audience.
Ethnic Diversity and the Wisdom of Ancients
Alongside classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun also features a variety of folk, ethnic and story-based dances, presenting China’s rich diversity and long-cherished folk tales. The show takes you riding with Mongolians across vast grasslands one moment and climbing up into the Himalayas or drumming on an ancient battlefield the next.
Yet, perhaps Shen Yun’s most unique offering lies in its ability to capture the very spirit of traditional Chinese culture. Ancient stories come to life on stage to celebrate compassionate, courageous, and even quirky characters. Audiences experience the thrilling triumph of the Song Dynasty General Yue Fei, cheer on the Monkey King as he tricks a stubborn foe, and witness inspiring scenes of courage from today’s China.
“It was an extraordinary experience,” says Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, who, after twice playing Queen Elizabeth or more recently Ridley Scotts’ Maid Marian, is no stranger to telling traditional stories to a modern day audience. “The level of skill, but also the power of the archetypes and the narratives were startling. And of course it was exquisitely beautiful.”
“So inspiring,” added Robert Stromberg, the Academy Award-winner production designer for the film Avatar. “I think I may have found some new ideas for the next Avatar.”
Stories that have inspired and stirred people for thousands of years are still touching people today. In fact, it is not rare to see audience members moved to tears during a performance.
“I think the most unique aspect of a Shen Yun performance,” says principal dancer Miranda Zhou-Galati, “is that it has a very strong message of hope, which is something that really touches the audience’s hearts.”
For an uplifting experience and an inspiring taste of traditional Chinese culture, see Shen Yun as it returns to Lincoln Center in New York on April 20 – 28, or when it makes its debut at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach on April 29-30. Shen Yun is also touring throughout the United States January – May, 2013, so check dates and times for your city at ShenYun.com. u

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