Shen Yun ‘Very Spiritual’

SYDNEY—Former company executive director, Joy Said, left the Capitol Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 15, full of admiration for Shen Yun Performing Arts International Company’s extravaganza of Chinese classical dance and music.

“I think the skills of the dancers are really magnificent. Their movements are so beautiful," she said. "I go to ballet, I think their movements are just as beautiful, but much more energetic."

Now retired, Ms. Said had done some acting in the past so appreciated the theatrics used in the hi-tech digital backdrop scenes. Exquisitely handmade garments and intricately designed head-dresses match with the dancer’s movements and blend perfectly with the picturesque backdrops.

“The colour is wonderful, the backdrops are interesting,“ Ms. Said commented.

Shen Yun, based in New York, was specifically created to revive ancient China’s true moral values through stories from beloved Chinese legends, folkloric traditions and contemporary issues, such as the persecution of Falun Gong, an ancient spiritual practice.

“The way they introduce the songs and stories is very clear for we Australians to understand. I think it is very helpful, and the writing on the screen makes it very clear for us to understand,” Ms. Said commented about the English subtitles.

One story dance tells the true story of a teacher who is arrested in class for writing ‘truthfulness, compassion, forbearance’ in Chinese characters on the blackboard. She is taken away and tortured to death, but divine beings come and carry her to heaven, bespeaking the Chinese adage that good is rewarded and evil punished, even if not in this lifetime.

“For me it is very spiritual, … the one called Our Story," she said. "I understood the story, but was surprised to see it on the stage. I was encouraged to see that.

"I think it is a very brave theatre group that will come out and confront this sort of issues. I am aware of the Falun Gong issue and have signed a petition in Chinatown.“

Another dance she recalled was Herding on the Grasslands, a vision of exhilarating strength as young horsemen gallop across the plains.

“I love the Mongolian one—powerful. The music was good, their movements were magnificent.“

Ms. Said is going to tell her friends to come to the magnificent Capitol, a legend in itself, to see the exciting Shen Yun.”

Reporting by Raiatea Tahana-Reese.