Shen Yun Performing Arts landed in Britain on Dec. 31 for a twelve-city UK tour and is set to captivate and inspire audiences across the country. Featuring not only the stories and legends of ancient China, but the virtues and values behind them, it has the mission to revive genuine traditional Chinese culture and show the world China before communism.
Fans eagerly awaited the arrival of Shen Yun, the world’s leading classical Chinese dance company. Formed in New York in 2006, it has grown from one to eight whole companies touring the world simultaneously.
While mastering technical dance skills, principal dancer Jason Pan explained they also seek to develop virtue and goodness.
“When an actor has a good inner state, he can express the inner world of the character he portrays in the purest and most intuitive way, providing the audience with a sense of pure goodness and beauty on stage,” Pan said.
This is one reason why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun. It draws on 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture, from antiquity to the modern day—a history brimming with heroes and tales of courage, integrity, loyalty, and compassion.
Emcee Teresa Du introduces each mini-drama to help the audience understand.
“We really try to have good audience interaction. I think it’s really important to be connected to the audience and really give them the feeling that they’re being brought into the story and then when they see it, it’s another level,” she said.
She said they dedicated half a year to training and honing their skills, and they hope to showcase this, as well as their deeper message.
“I feel that the morals that we spread are very positive and uplifting, and they bring hope to everyone. I think that nowadays in society things happen and … they are rather unfortunate,” Du said. “What we want to do is uplift the audience and let them know that there is hope, there is positivity in the world.”
An important element to convey this is one that a lot of people don’t actually notice until halfway through the show—that is, Shen Yun features a symphony orchestra accompanying the dance.
Concertmaster Ryan Li explains. “That’s true, a lot of people don’t notice the orchestra, but actually the orchestra plays a crucial role because in terms of how we portray the music, and the emotion and the power we give through the music, it directly affects the dancers and how they can portray their emotions, how well they dance, how much energy they have.”
Shen Yun’s orchestra has a unique and distinctive characteristic.
“If you don’t already know, we actually combine classical Western and classical Chinese instruments within the orchestra, so it’s kind of like a combination of the East and West,” Li said.
Every year, the company prepares an all-new program with brand new choreography.
“Our last stop was in Atlanta, and the audience feedback was great. I am sure that the UK audience will love it too,” Pan said.
The UK tour begins in Birmingham in the new year, and follows through until early March.
NTD is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.
