Canadian stages are set to welcome the return of Shen Yun Performing Arts, with shows scheduled for theatres across the country starting in December.
The world’s premier classical Chinese dance company has been entertaining and uplifting audiences throughout the world for more than six years. By reviving the essence of China’s ancient civilization, it is bridging cultural and ethnic divides.
New York-based Shen Yun has grown swiftly, from one touring company to three, and more and more theatre-goers are enjoying its particular brand of magic. Whether performing before sold-out shows at New York’s Lincoln Center or standing ovations at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Shen Yun has shown remarkable success wherever it goes.
Ticket sales have already begun in Canada, and according to Susan Fang, sales manager for the Shen Yun Show Organizing Committee in Vancouver, interest in the show increases every year.
“People want to see something positive and uplifting in our day and age,” she says of Shen Yun’s growing popularity. “There is a lot of negativity in this world and Shen Yun reminds us that there is still beauty out there.”
Pursuing perfection
It is rare for a performing arts company to grow as rapidly as has Shen Yun. Why has the show become such a draw in the art world? What is so appealing about its representation of a culture still foreign in the West?
The answer may lie in the company’s pursuit of perfection and the sincerity of its performers, a sincerity that provides audiences with a glimpse into the character and values of ancient China.
Through the language of dance, Shen Yun portrays the history and authentic culture of a civilization that has continued for 5,000 years. China, once known as “The Land of the Divine,” has the longest recorded history of any nation on earth.
Shen Yun reaches far back into the cultural roots of China to the dynastic traditions that prevailed before communism, Maoism, and the Cultural Revolution, which have collectively almost entirely destroyed the Middle Kingdom’s rich culture.
It is the stated mission of Shen Yun to revive the essence of that culture, making its dancers cultural ambassadors for a civilization nearly lost. Audiences are finding that the cultural treasure Shen Yun portrays on stage transcends race, ethnicity, and time.
Transcending boundaries
Shen Yun draws on the contradiction between present China and the richly spiritual traditional Chinese culture to give audiences a performance that is insightfully entertaining.
Shen Yun’s live orchestra is the first to harmoniously blend the musical traditions of the East and the West. With a European orchestra as the foundation, Chinese soloists play the melodies thereby combining the grandeur of Western music traditions with the evocative melodies of Chinese antiquity.
Shen Yun’s backdrop is another feature that links the modern with the traditional. A giant screen spans the length of the stage showing visually spectacular renditions of Chinese traditional landscapes, architecture, and other scenes inspired from China’s history.
Especially useful in Shen Yun’s story-based dances, the animated backdrop interacts with the performers on the stage. Whether portraying the legend of the Monkey King, the heroic tale of Mulan, or the stateliness of Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors, the backdrop enriches each performance with context and depth.
Inner beauty and purity
There are many classical Chinese dance companies, most hailing from mainland China, but none has been received on the world stage as warmly as Shen Yun.
China’s dance traditions were co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party for political purposes during the Cultural Revolution and have never fully recovered inside the country. Shen Yun enjoys the artistic freedom needed to nurture its performers and perfect its shows.
Shen Yun says its artists take seriously an ancient Chinese saying that “to produce true art one must first have inner beauty and purity.”
This aspect sets Shen Yun apart and is a key reason the company is able to translate physical movement onstage into a performance that impacts audiences on an emotional level rarely seen in the arts today.
Shen Yun’s Canadian show dates:
Mississauga: Dec. 20-23 2012
Ottawa: Dec. 27-30 2012
Montreal: Jan. 3-6
Quebec City: Jan. 8
Vancouver: Jan. 10-13 2013
Waterloo/Kitchener: Jan. 10-11
Hamilton: Jan. 12 -13 2013
Toronto: Jan. 17- 20 2013
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
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