Over the past 60 years, traditional Chinese culture has been suppressed under the Chinese Communist rule, but the Shen Yun Performing Arts company is trying to keep the culture alive.
A nonprofit organization based in New York, the Shen Yun Performing Arts company is a premier classical Chinese dance and music company, kicking off the Hult Center’s winter performance season.
Since its first season in 2007, the company has grown from a few passionate dancers to three separate touring companies, composed of classically trained Chinese dancers, orchestra members and soloists.
The show caught the attention of the world because of its elaborate and stunning dance, music and costumes. Now, after four years of touring worldwide, it has performed over 960 shows to about 2.2 million people.
Xiaoyang Wang, the Portland representative for Shen Yun, says the dancers try to convey through dance “the essence and true values of traditional Chinese culture, that are actually universal values (that) have been highlighted through historical and contemporary stories in the performances.”
The performance is composed of many short dance pieces, traveling throughout Asia, from the Himalayas to the “Middle Kingdom.”
Accompanying the dancers is a full orchestra accompanied by two classical Chinese violins, otherwise known as erhus, as well as tenors, sopranos and vocal soloists.
The show has been praised by the famous violinist Joshua Bell, and more recently by Examiner.com critic Albert Goodwyn.
In his review Goodwyn said, “Shen Yun’s guiding principle thematically informs the show; to promote humanity’s divinely inspired cultural heritage in the face of a repressive society.”
But the show has also garnered some negative and critical reaction from show critics, who claim the show’s heavy-handed political and religious messages are unsettling. Other critics believe the political message isn’t clear enough.
A recent Register-Guard piece said that “Shen Yun is widely regarded as a propaganda arm of the conservative Chinese religious sect Falun Gong … banned since 1999 by the government of China.”
Falun Gong, founded in 1992, is a system of beliefs and practices that has grown rapidly over the past two decades. However, it has also been oppressed and its practitioners brutalized under the rule of the communist party of China.
The movement has, however, been criticized for some of its more extreme beliefs.
Critics of Shen Yun believe the show is a propaganda tool for Falun Gong and its beliefs, particularly in the dances depicting suppression of the Chinese people.
Wang said she is furious that audiences assume this connection to Falun Gong and that they are promoting religion and religious values.
“Through story and singing (we’re) basically trying to express traditional values in Chinese history,” Wang said. “The story is to promote traditional human goodness.”
Though the dance does depict the persecutions of the Chinese people under communist rule, Wang said audiences often associate this with the contemporary persecution of Falun Gong.
Falun Gong associations host some performances, but Wang asserts that they are not a propaganda tool for Falun Gong groups.
“Today, because persecution is happening … when you express, many people think you’re against the government,” Wang said.
According to Wang, critics of the show wrongfully assume a connection to politics and religion. She said the show’s only intentions are to promote universal human values and to share traditional Chinese culture with the world.
“Culture in China’s past 60 years are really destroyed,” she said. “I hope people come to see the truth about real (Chinese) art and the value and essence of culture. People will be inspired.”
“Shen Yun” is this Tuesday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hult Center. Visit shenyunperformingarts.org for more information about the show.
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Dancing for values, heritage
Daily Emerald
January 9, 2011
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