on March 9, 2019
The Magic of Shen Yun
I recently pulled the straw out of my hair and for a treat headed down to the city to see the Chinese traditional ballet extravaganza Shen Yun at the Qld Performing Arts Centre
The Shen Yun company is based in New York with its mission to revive and keep alive 5000 years of traditional Chinese culture .Every year the company tours the world with a new stage show extravaganza including traditional Chinese dance, all original live orchestral works and patented scenographical effects .
I sat in a box seat which afforded me splendid views .I found the show visually very beautiful and light filled and uplifting if somewhat puritanical idealistic and romantic (even for me haha ) It celebrated all that was beautiful noble and uplifting about ancient Chinese culture and values bringing to life the myths and legends of Chinas ancient past but I did wonder at times where were the starving peasant serfs and plundering warlords and the ladies hobbling around on bound and broken feet which were also part of ancient Chinese culture ? .
The show opened with a Chinese creation story of Divine immortal beings sent to earth to recreate Heaven on Earth The dancers certainly looked Divine in their exquisite costumes which changed in colour and style from dance to dance but generally featured either diaphanous skirts or long flowing silk sleeves or floaty silk scarves so that as the dancers moved in synchronized formation opening up like gorgeous blossoms or leapt blazing trails of silken beauty like birds in flight or painting rainbow clouds across the stage skies .The women dancers in particular were the epitome of grace and beauty combining contemporary ballet moves with with their dainty stylized hand gestures and exacting classical Chinese dance postures rendered with stylized but fluid grace .
The music also original compositions played by a live orchestra consisting of both Western and traditional Chinese music was certainly a Heavenly and very satisfying experience. 
There were recreations of tales of love struck men and women either disappearing into classical Chinese paintings or travelling skywards to visit moon maidens l’amours . This other dimensional travel was cunningly crafted .The dancers would suddenly disappear over a ledge at the back of a stage and then their identical digitalized image would suddenly appear on the backdrop screen as they shimmied up moonbeams or suddenly appeared as characters who had climbed into the painting .
There were humorous tales of hapless monks who saved their monastaries from maurauding thieves day and a heavenly realm ruled over by fertile Goddesses lake where if one took even a small sip of water even men ended up getting pregnant .
Unashamedly aligned to spiritual practice many of the dancers performing in Shen Yun meditate daily and speak of this practice enabling them to remain centred and strong and very present in their performances They are supporters of the spiritual practice of Falun Gong and I guess the programme designers and choreographers decided to alert audiences to the fact that in China Falon Gong practitioners are still being persecuted and tortured with horrific stories coming out of China about those practising Falon Gong being killed for their organs which are then sold on the black market .
In this Shen Yun show there was one very hard hitting scene which represented a complete change of mood in the show Moving as it did suddenly from revelling in the sublime and light and beautiful to quite frankly dark and horrific as the dancers portrayed a young woman Falon Gong enthusiast who was arrested and then taken to be tortured One could hear the resounding crack of this device of torture we saw which broke the womans fingers and then the whole performance arena was plunged into darkness as we realized with horror her eyes had been put out
It was very sobering as up until this point the programme of dance had been generally focusing on gentle positive themes and celebrating and revelling in ephemeral beauty and I think the choreographers and programmers really need to be thoughtful about the fact they are taking the audience on a journey with people watching so much ephemeral beauty perhaps being momentarily off thie guard and emotionally open and vulnerable So to be suddenly zapped and confronted with this awful brutal reality of Falon Gong persecution. I found very hard hitting and unexpected .
However I felt it was fair enough for the company to use the show as a forum for an expression of their concern of these practices still going on in China and to bring to their audiences attention the sobering facts of this spiritual warfare and persecution happening to Falon Gong practitioners just as other campaigns of spiritual persecutions are going on in other parts of our world. The persecution of Buddhist monks in Tibet and Myanmar for example where thug regimes in these countries feel the need to undermine people using simple gentle rigorous practices which enable them which enable them to be able to tap into honour and master their spiritual gifts and their spiritual power .
Interesting how people in our own progressive and enlightened culture who practice yoga now sit squarely in the middle of totally acceptable and desirable mainstream health practices .One can only hope the rest of the world quickly catches up and this draconian and quite frankly demonic practices stop .
We were treated to a soulful performance of erhu solo which is the two stringed instrument people would immediately recognise as creating traditional Japanese musical sound .
The overall Shen Yun show I felt was touchingly and niavely moralistic imploring people to recognise the rewards of living a pure and virtuous life of piety and goodness and morality and clean living ……
The final act was this Chinese opera singer imploring us to turn back to God and eschew atheism and evolutionary theory in pursuit of ushering in a new Divine order on earth
Overall I found the show a dazzling spectacle of great beauty and uplifting thought and philosophy .I felt to be able to sit through 2 hours of live original orchestral music featuring both western and traditional Chinese instruments alone was worth the price of the ticket
Wendy Buss