NEW YORK—Dale Robertson, a private equity management consultant, was able to nourish the artist in herself at Shen Yun Performing Arts on Saturday. “It’s almost like a divine glow,” she said outside Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater.
Shen Yun aims to revive the essence of traditional Chinese culture, a heritage rooted in values like propriety and justice, reverence for the divine, and filial piety, says its website. More than 60 years of communist rule in China has threatened to destroy it.
Ms. Robertson said she loved the philosophical side of the performance. “The Gods, and the Buddhas, and the angels that come down from the heavens is integrating life and humans,” she said. “The dimension of truth and the divinity, and how connected we are as human beings to that. So it connects the two worlds, which is what I thought was so powerful.”
Classical Chinese dance is an ancient art form that was “passed down continuously within the imperial palace and ancient Chinese theater and opera,” explains Shen Yun’s website. “Through expression of bearing and form, beautiful dance movements bring out the inner meaning of intrinsic thoughts and feelings, reflecting the peculiarities of human nature, the standard for human conduct, moral concepts, mental state, one’s value system, and so on.”
Shen Yun transcended magnificence for Ms. Robertson, who felt such a depth of meaning from the performance.
“It’s about human beings and it’s about truth… It’s in such a beautiful, glorious, and sensational way to experience that,” she said. “Truth is the centre of our whole human and divine experience. This is, as a human being, our home; it’s truth. No matter where we are in the world, that is home. That is what life is all about and [Shen Yun] illustrates it so many times.”
Shen Yun’s website says, “Classical Chinese dance is a culture left to us by the ancients who came before us. Its beauty should be riches shared by all of humanity.”
Ms. Robertson said Shen Yun showed “the brilliance of human beings together and what they can create from an art form.”
She expressed her dismay in the fact that Shen Yun cannot perform in China.
“This is China’s tradition and in any culture, to be able to exalt the tradition, to put it on a stage… and the magnificence of it, and the precision, the choreography, and the precision. It’s really stunning, absolutely stunning,” she said.
“It is outside of China that Shen Yun’s artistic creators have the ability to freely express themselves and their ancient culture,” says the Shen Yun website. “Their courage to speak up is an integral part of Shen Yun’s spirit.”
Reporting by Pamela Tsai and Charlotte Cuthbertson.
New York-based Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will perform at New York’s Lincoln Center through Jan. 15. and again April 18-22.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
