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Shen Yun

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Shen Yun
File:Logo-shenyun.png
Company logo
Traditional Chinese神韻藝術團
Simplified Chinese神韵艺术团
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinshén yùn yì shù tuán

Shen Yun Performing Arts, formerly known as Divine Performing Arts, is a performing arts and entertainment company based in New York City.[1]. It performs classical Chinese dance, ethnic & folk dance[2], and story-based dance.[3]

Founded in 2006, the Shen Yun troupe is closely linked to the Falun Gong new religious movement.[4][5] While veteran critic Richard Connema has praised the show in the Epoch Times[6], journals such as The Guardian have criticised the show as being proselytising for Falun Gong under the guise of traditional Chinese culture;[7] Daily Telegraph and the Toronto Star have dubbed it "propaganda as entertainment".[8][9]

Content

Shen Yun shows feature traditional Chinese dance and song. The group is composed of three performing arts companies: The New York Company, The Touring Company, and the International Company, which typically tour different parts of the world consecutively. The 2008 shows in Denver were composed of sixty dancers, singers and musicians[5], though the size of each company varies. According to the company, traditional Chinese culture is a major source of inspiration. It contains sixteen[10] or more different acts of "hundreds of dancers in two dozen carefully designed, richly costumed pieces - everything from colorful handkerchief dances, Imperial-style dances in high platform shoes, drum dances, folk dances and wushu displays".[4] The acts are presented in both Chinese and the local language.[10] Each act is accompanied by a full-width projected backdrop, that provided animation of "mountain scenes with snow, village scenes with rising smoke, countryside landscapes, and palaces."[10]

Shen Yun enacts three distinct forms of Chinese dance in its performances: classical Chinese dance, ethnic & folk dance (for instance, dances of China's Dai and Mongolian ethnic minorities[2]), and story-based dance, presenting classic Chinese stories such as the legend of Mulan.[3]

Aside from the dance pieces, "nostalgic counter-melody to the dance comes from a live orchestra of Chinese and Western instruments."[3] The songs are in Chinese, but the lyrics, both in Chinese and the local language where the performance is being held, is projected onto a stage-spanning backdrop revealing the performances' "themes, dealing often with historical movements and their devoted disciples."[10][2]

Show names

Initially the shows were titled "Chinese Spectacular"[4][5], "Holiday Wonders"[11], and "Divine Performing Arts", but now the company mostly performs under its own name "Shen Yun".

International touring

Each year the Shen Yun Performing Arts show tours several countries, performing across Europe, North America, Oceania, and Asia. Shen Yun's shows have been staged in several leading stages, including New York’s Radio City Music Hall, London’s Royal Festival Hall, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center, and Paris’ Le Palais de Congrès[5] [12] The Chinese embassy in the United States accused NTDTV and Shen Yun Performing Arts of being used to "spread anti-China propaganda" and "distorting Chinese culture".[13]

Reception

The San Francisco Chronicle, Denver Post and San Francisco Bay Times billed the show positively, the Chronicle exploring scenes in the performance depicting Falun Gong.[4][10] Richard Connema, San Francisco critic for Talkin' Broadway, described the Shen Yun performance as "absolutely fantastic."[6] Opera Online described one performance as "simply astounding to watch and a pleasure to the ear."[14]

However, several other reviewers have said that past Shen Yun shows were not advertised as being inspired by Falun Gong, yet contained scenes depicting the persecution of its practitioners in China: a heavily critical piece in The New York Times in 2008 raised these objections about misleading promotion;[15] similar observations were made by the Daily Telegraph, whose reviewer dubbed it 'propaganda as entertainment,' commenting on the show's "politically motivated" content.[8] Susan Walker of the Toronto Star reported that the show was "heavily laden" with Falun Gong references, and called it "mere propaganda".[9] The Guardian gave a negative review, arguing that the acts of the show depicting Falun Gong came off as "evangelical" and a net detraction.[7] In the New York Times article, Maria Hsia Chang from the University of Nevada said the show "is kind of a P.R. front to try to normalize Falun Gong’s image".[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mission". Retrieved 15 November 2009. The Mission statement of Shen Yun Performing Arts
  2. ^ a b c Wesnousky, Jennifer (16 February 2007). "NTDTV's Chinese New Year Spectacular". Explore Dance. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  3. ^ a b c "International Incident". The Pacific Northwest Inlander. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  4. ^ a b c d Hunt, Mary Ellen (4 January 2009). "Chinese New Year Spectacular in S.F., Cupertino". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d Wenzel, John (1 October 2007). "Chinese New Year embracing tradition". The Denver Post. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  6. ^ a b "Theater Critic Calls DPA 'Mind-Blowing'", The Epoch Times, 10 January 2009[unreliable source?]
  7. ^ a b Mackrell, Judith (25 February 2008). "Dance review: Shen Yun Royal Festival Hall, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  8. ^ a b Crompton, Sue (25 February 2008). "Shen Yun: Propaganda as entertainment". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
  9. ^ a b Susan Walker (Falun) Gong New Year event mere propaganda, The Toronto Star, 20 January 2008
  10. ^ a b c d e Goodwyn, Albert (11 January 2007). "Chinese New Year Spectacular". San Francisco Bay Times. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  11. ^ Higgins, Beau (15 November 2007). "'Holiday Wonders' Chinese Meets West Extravaganza". Broadway World. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  12. ^ "Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World tour special coverage". Epoch Times. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
  13. ^ "Enjoy the Holidays and Stay away from the so-called "Chinese New Year Gala" of the New Tang Dynasty Television". Chinese Embassy in the United States of America. 7 January 2008.
  14. ^ "Boston welcomes Year of the Dog with Gala multi-cultural celebration at Cutler Majestic". Opera Online. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  15. ^ a b Konigsberg, Eric (6 February 2008), "A Glimpse of Chinese Culture That Some Find Hard to Watch", The New York Times


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