Shen Yun, an Authentic Classical Chinese Dance Company, Takes on Communism

Commentary As the first rain of the year, a division of the seasons in the lunar calendar, approached, there was a ray of light on the 59th street of Mt. Mokmeok in Seoul, beckoning the audience to abandon deception and uphold goodness and tradition. The river of history has surged with thousands of wavesEach dynasty leaving behind a legacyHow many great figures have turned the course of eventsYet what becomes of each hero, but a burial moundReincarnating, again and again—when shall it endAh, why does the sky stretch so vastAll that a life passes through is but to await the Fa (Great Way of the Universe)May you embrace it and return to the heavens The lyrics of “The Purpose of Life,” written by Shen Yun artistic director D.F. and performed in past Shen Yun performances, flowed through the hills. The exaltation of the divine cannot be suppressed and do not delude yourself that there is no God. Let’s fulfill the teachings of the Way and be a true peacemakers in the world. For the first time in the year of the rabbit as a major overseas dance company, New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts presented 14 performances of Shen Yun World Tour 2023 in Busan, Gumi, and Seoul in South Korea. It was the first show in three years due to the pandemic. Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded by D.F., a distinguished professor of music and dance at Fei Tian College in New York, and has eight companies of equal size touring the world. When Shen Yun was in Busan, other Shen Yun companies were performing in Canada (Montreal, Quebec), France (Lyon), the United States (Cleveland, Ohio), and the Dominican Republic (Santiago). Drawing on traditions that predate the People’s Republic of China, Shen Yun incorporates dances from 5,000 years of Chinese history to promote peace. The Shen Yun performance at the Haeoreum (Rising Sun) Grand Theatre of the National Theatre of Korea was hosted by Theresa Du and James Nam and featured 19 episodes, including seven Chinese dance performances (five classical and two contemporary), six classical Chinese dances, three ethnic dances, two vocal music pieces, and one solo piece. The Shen Yun program consisted of Chinese dance stories such as “From Heaven to Save All,” “Water Sleeves,” “Sacred Quest Through Vermilion Kingdom,” “Riding Alone to the Rescue,” “Monk Lu,” “Unprecedented Crime, and Divine Renewal of the Human World,” classical Chinese dance such as the male dance “Scholarly Aspirations,” and female dance “Flight of the Celestial Maidens,” “The Tang Emperor and Lady Yang,” and “The Ladies’ Dance: Water in the Balance,” the ethnic dance “Manchurian Ethnic Dance,” “Snowy Mountain Celebration,” and “Mongolian Chopsticks.” It also had vocal pieces such as “Hope Cannot Be Suppressed” sung by the baritone Chao Wang and “The Fulfillment” sung by the soprano Min Jiang, and the musical solo “Ancient Autumn Moon” performed by Andrea Li (erhu) and Jingya Mahlen (piano). It’s been 17 years since Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in New York by a group of classical Chinese artists who moved to the United States in 2006 in search of artistic freedom. With a mission to revive and share divinely inspired traditional Chinese culture with the world, the organization’s eight equal-sized companies have embarked on a journey of more than 750 performances in over 180 cities in more than 20 countries on five continents this year. Shen Yun began its first world tour in 2007, and the Shen Yun 2023 World Tour kicked off in the United States in December and traveled to Japan before visiting South Korea. Shen Yun performed five shows at the Sohyang Theatre in Busan from Feb. 2 to Feb. 5, two shows at the Gumi Arts and Culture Center on Feb. 8, and seven shows at the Haeoreum Grand Theater of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul from Feb. 15 to Feb. 19, before departing for Taiwan on Feb. 20. Shen Yun evokes a sense of wonder, magic, and the divine. Shen Yun is a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from five millennia of Chinese civilization. The Shen Yun 2023 World Tour company that performed in South Korea included a dance troupe, an orchestra, and a crew totaling more than 100 people. The sheer scale of the show was awe-inspiring and infectiously exciting. Each piece stirred the soul with powerful messages while evoking dynasties, ethnicities, folklore and legends, and literary enrichment. Choreographed by Michelle Ren, Yungchia Chen, Gu Yun, Gu Xuan, Gu Yuan, Chad Chen, Yu Yue, Christina Lee, and Ji Sung Kim and co-choreographed by New York Shen Yun Performing Arts Company, the dazzling movements were imbued with originality. The dance movements of the accomplished Asian dancers are well-suited to classical Chinese dance. The company’s principal dancers, Melody Qin, Pamela Du, Shawn Ren, Jason Pan, Bill Hsiung, Justina Wang, and Ruby Oose, led the group dance, and delivered top-notch dance performances as they moved from fluid to dynamic movements, from traditional to contemporary dance d

Shen Yun, an Authentic Classical Chinese Dance Company, Takes on Communism

Commentary

As the first rain of the year, a division of the seasons in the lunar calendar, approached, there was a ray of light on the 59th street of Mt. Mokmeok in Seoul, beckoning the audience to abandon deception and uphold goodness and tradition.

The river of history has surged with thousands of waves
Each dynasty leaving behind a legacy
How many great figures have turned the course of events
Yet what becomes of each hero, but a burial mound
Reincarnating, again and again—when shall it end
Ah, why does the sky stretch so vast
All that a life passes through is but to await the Fa (Great Way of the Universe)
May you embrace it and return to the heavens

The lyrics of “The Purpose of Life,” written by Shen Yun artistic director D.F. and performed in past Shen Yun performances, flowed through the hills. The exaltation of the divine cannot be suppressed and do not delude yourself that there is no God. Let’s fulfill the teachings of the Way and be a true peacemakers in the world.

For the first time in the year of the rabbit as a major overseas dance company, New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts presented 14 performances of Shen Yun World Tour 2023 in Busan, Gumi, and Seoul in South Korea. It was the first show in three years due to the pandemic. Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded by D.F., a distinguished professor of music and dance at Fei Tian College in New York, and has eight companies of equal size touring the world. When Shen Yun was in Busan, other Shen Yun companies were performing in Canada (Montreal, Quebec), France (Lyon), the United States (Cleveland, Ohio), and the Dominican Republic (Santiago). Drawing on traditions that predate the People’s Republic of China, Shen Yun incorporates dances from 5,000 years of Chinese history to promote peace.

The Shen Yun performance at the Haeoreum (Rising Sun) Grand Theatre of the National Theatre of Korea was hosted by Theresa Du and James Nam and featured 19 episodes, including seven Chinese dance performances (five classical and two contemporary), six classical Chinese dances, three ethnic dances, two vocal music pieces, and one solo piece.

The Shen Yun program consisted of Chinese dance stories such as “From Heaven to Save All,” “Water Sleeves,” “Sacred Quest Through Vermilion Kingdom,” “Riding Alone to the Rescue,” “Monk Lu,” “Unprecedented Crime, and Divine Renewal of the Human World,” classical Chinese dance such as the male dance “Scholarly Aspirations,” and female dance “Flight of the Celestial Maidens,” “The Tang Emperor and Lady Yang,” and “The Ladies’ Dance: Water in the Balance,” the ethnic dance “Manchurian Ethnic Dance,” “Snowy Mountain Celebration,” and “Mongolian Chopsticks.” It also had vocal pieces such as “Hope Cannot Be Suppressed” sung by the baritone Chao Wang and “The Fulfillment” sung by the soprano Min Jiang, and the musical solo “Ancient Autumn Moon” performed by Andrea Li (erhu) and Jingya Mahlen (piano).

It’s been 17 years since Shen Yun Performing Arts was founded in New York by a group of classical Chinese artists who moved to the United States in 2006 in search of artistic freedom. With a mission to revive and share divinely inspired traditional Chinese culture with the world, the organization’s eight equal-sized companies have embarked on a journey of more than 750 performances in over 180 cities in more than 20 countries on five continents this year. Shen Yun began its first world tour in 2007, and the Shen Yun 2023 World Tour kicked off in the United States in December and traveled to Japan before visiting South Korea. Shen Yun performed five shows at the Sohyang Theatre in Busan from Feb. 2 to Feb. 5, two shows at the Gumi Arts and Culture Center on Feb. 8, and seven shows at the Haeoreum Grand Theater of the National Theater of Korea in Seoul from Feb. 15 to Feb. 19, before departing for Taiwan on Feb. 20.

Shen Yun evokes a sense of wonder, magic, and the divine. Shen Yun is a study in grace, wisdom, and the virtues distilled from five millennia of Chinese civilization. The Shen Yun 2023 World Tour company that performed in South Korea included a dance troupe, an orchestra, and a crew totaling more than 100 people. The sheer scale of the show was awe-inspiring and infectiously exciting. Each piece stirred the soul with powerful messages while evoking dynasties, ethnicities, folklore and legends, and literary enrichment. Choreographed by Michelle Ren, Yungchia Chen, Gu Yun, Gu Xuan, Gu Yuan, Chad Chen, Yu Yue, Christina Lee, and Ji Sung Kim and co-choreographed by New York Shen Yun Performing Arts Company, the dazzling movements were imbued with originality.

The dance movements of the accomplished Asian dancers are well-suited to classical Chinese dance. The company’s principal dancers, Melody Qin, Pamela Du, Shawn Ren, Jason Pan, Bill Hsiung, Justina Wang, and Ruby Oose, led the group dance, and delivered top-notch dance performances as they moved from fluid to dynamic movements, from traditional to contemporary dance depicting oppression under the communist rule. Despite their similar Chinese appearance, the dancers are multinational and multiregional, hailing from Liaoning, northeast China; Atlanta and Washington D.C., USA; Toronto, Canada; Taoyuan and Taipei, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. It’s fascinating to see the subtle physical and performance differences between the dancers.

The lively movements of the multinational members of the orchestra, conducted by Chia-Chi Lin, were inspired by the themes of composers D.F., Jing Xian, Gao Yuan, and Qin Yuan. Possessing healing powers, dance music delicately expressed the human highs and lows in tales from China’s long history. Since ancient times, advanced Chinese dance has been an object of curiosity and imitation, not a military exercise of recent hybrid varieties. In Eastern and Western music, too, the achievement of symmetry was an absolute must. Opening the chest and infusing the instrument with a living soul (chords, harmonies, counterpoint) to make it spin (melodic presence) was an art form that could make the two-stringed erhu play and dance with the piano while expressing its uniqueness.

As a collective art of practitioners, Shen Yun has quietly achieved the goals of its dance. Its distinctiveness comes from its mission to reclaim its lost heritage by worshipping heaven with faith, venerating virtue, and doing good. The dances were inherited from the tradition of authentic Chinese classical dance, not from the current unidentifiable communist China’s dance, which mixes classical dance with modern dance. The music was a harmonious combination of Eastern and Western instruments in an orchestra, and the vocal music was sung in traditional bel canto with Chinese lyrics. The bright and beautiful traditional stage costumes and vivid colors created a fantasy that displayed the costumes of different dynasties, eras, regions, and ethnic groups, as well as the costumes of heavenly beings and gods and goddesses.

Technologically advanced and innovative 3D projection helped the dancers transcend the limitations of space and infinitely expand the stage, enhancing reality and vitality. The lighting, sound, and set design followed a no-frills approach to performance without exaggeration. Shen Yun artists are also spiritual seekers on a shared journey, striving to live by the principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance. They believe that cultivating the heart is the way to create art that is beautifully sublime. For many years, Shen Yun Performing Arts has premiered new programs for its world tours, producing entirely new works each year. They believe that their programs showcase the sublimity of the human spirit and the coexistence of the heavenly and earthly worlds.

Shen Yun is a world-class performance that combines recurring literary, historical, and philosophical references with highly technical classical dance, an original symphony orchestra that blends Eastern and Western instruments, colorful costumes, and stage backdrops created with cutting-edge digital technology to create a mystical and magical sense of place. It’s fascinating to trace the dynasties, heroes, and folklore of the past as you look at the different aspects of Shen Yun Made in New York. True to its roots, Shen Yun uses classical Chinese dance and traditional music to create a spectacularly didactic and dynamic lyricism. The visuals of the changing scenes, combined with the colorful traditional Chinese men’s and women’s costumes from different dynasties, make it an experience of a lifetime.

In Shen Yun, the Creator is celebrated as a being who descended “From Heaven to Save All.” The deadly love of “The Tang Emperor and Lady Yang;” the emergence of the “Monk Lu” Zhishen from the classic novel “Outlaws of the Marsh,” which presents a comic dance; “Water Sleeves” that showcase the ladies’ elegant movements of the trailing sleeves; “Sacred Quest Through Vermilion Kingdom” that depicts an encounter with a villain from the classic novel “Journey to the West; Riding Alone to the Rescue,” in which one of Liu Bei’s best warriors, Zhao Yun, rushes behind enemy lines to rescue Liu’s family; “Scholarly Aspirations,” where a mysterious visitor drops in under the mystical moonlight to complete an unfinished poem; “Flight of the Celestial Maidens” who soar in the golden twilight; and “The Ladies’ Dance: Water in the Balance” depicts the refinement of elegant ladies.

Shen Yun’s programs are based on ancient history and mythology, such as “Journey to the West” and “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” and perfectly recreate the authenticity of traditional Chinese culture. This fantastic journey through time and space takes the audience from the vast Mongolian steppes to the majestic and elegant Tang Dynasty, from the Manchu ladies’ chamber to snowy Tibet, and from the battlefields to the Himalayas. In a modern world of uncertainty, Shen Yun helps to enlighten and uplift people with traditional values. All Shen Yun performers are practitioners of Falun Dafa, which teaches the values of truth, compassion, and forbearance, and pursue their art with high standards of morality, values, and rigor.

The Chinese Communist Party, which came to power in 1949, views traditional culture as a threat to the Party’s absolute dominance. The atheistic Cultural Revolution wiped out traditional values and civilizations on a massive scale. As Shen Yun grew in popularity and influence around the world, the CCP vilified performances, threatened theaters to cancel the show, and slashed the tires of buses carrying performers. The CCP has not only banned Shen Yun from performing in China, but has also relentlessly sabotaged the company’s overseas performances. South Korea has not been immune to the CCP’s sabotage, and Shen Yun has never performed at Seoul’s flagship theater.

Around the National Theater of Korea, a group of Chinese Communist Party supporters protested two dance stories, “Unprecedented Crime,” about a mother and daughter who practice Falun Gong and are targeted for organ harvesting, and “Divine Renewal of the Human World,” about a world that has become lawless under Chinese public security rule, undermining the authority of the sovereign state of South Korea and the autonomy of the performance. The performance at the National Theater of Korea was significant because it was the first time in over a decade that Shen Yun had performed in Seoul, and it was in a government-owned venue. Despite the fact that Shen Yun is a touring company, the performers completed the show in a relaxed manner. I hope that Korean audiences will continue to have the opportunity to enjoy Shen Yun’s performance, which is characterized by originality, exquisite compositions, and high techniques. Shen Yun’s performance in South Korea, a free and democratic country, was a meaningful performance that will be a beautiful addition to the annals of Korean theater history.

By Chang Seok-yong, president of the Korea Council of Art Critics

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.