BRISBANE, Australia—Shen Yun Performing Arts New York Company has landed in Australia for its 2015 World Tour down-under.
Hailed as a global sensation, the renowned classical Chinese dance and music company touched down at the Brisbane Airport on Friday, Jan. 30.
Based in New York, the company arrived fresh from Boston, leaving behind wintry snow blizzards to start its Australian-leg of the tour on the sunny Gold Coast in Brisbane.
Principal dancer and actor Danny Li, originally from Sydney, is glad to be here and is particularly looking forward to being back in his hometown to perform.
Meanwhile, all of the Shen Yun members are very happy to be in Queensland, not only because the 20-hour flight is over, nor the 16,000 kilometres travel, but because they’re warm.
Danny Li explained, “I feel very warm, because we were just under a blizzard. The blizzard also delayed our plane and we arrived here to see the weather is so good.
“I feel very happy, very honoured to be able to return home to perform again, this time with a new set of dances for audiences in Australia.”
Tomorrow, at the Gold Coast’s Arts Centre, the curtain will rise to reveal the performance that has enthralled audiences since Shen Yun’s 2015 world tour launched a day after Christmas, Dec. 26.
On Saturday, Shen Yun will take the stage at 2 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m., ending with a matinee show 2 p.m. on Sunday. The performers then head for Brisbane’s QPAC to take the stage Feb. 3 and 4.
Every year, Shen Yun Performing Arts graces prestigious stages in over 100 cities in 20 countries, giving some 400 performances with an all-new program, and hundreds of new costumes.
Kudos to a group of talented artists who dreamed in 2006 of breathing life into 5,000 years of Chinese civilisation through classical Chinese dance and music, and showing it to the world.
In its ninth season, their dream has since grown from one to four touring companies that, at the end of the season, will have touched the hearts of millions.
Highlights in its programs are the core values of propriety, compassion, and respect for heaven that have sustained Chinese society for millennia, but have been all but lost in China today, according to the Shen Yun website.
For thousands of years, a belief in the divine was central to Chinese culture. The arts celebrated this by “expressing benevolence, beauty, and many other virtues,” the Shen Yun website explains.
So Shen Yun dancers, take the stage not only as highly skilled performers, but also as heralds of China’s ancient heritage.
Audiences laud the company as an inspiration and a powerful force for change.
With reporting by Linda Smith and Raiatea Tahana-Reese
Performances to be held at the following theatres:
The Arts Centre, Gold Coast Jan. 31—Feb.1;
Concert Hall QPAC, Brisbane Feb 3—4;
Capitol Theatre, Sydney Feb. 6—15;
Canberra Theatre, Canberra Feb. 17—18;
Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide, Feb. 20—22;
Arts Centre Melbourne, State Theatre, Melbourne, Feb. 25—28.
New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.
