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发帖数: 26 | 1 Shen Yun Explained
Posted December 31, 2017 Sydney
shen yun dancer
Shen Yun program coverThe title of this post is what it is because I
willingly bought tickets for Shen Yun based entirely on assumptions that
turned out to be entirely false. Maybe you have these same assumptions. I
had seen the advertisements, posters, and TV commercials for years, and
wanted to take my kids. Shen Yun appears to be a well-crafted production
showcasing the art of Chinese dance and, because of the dancers’ poses in
the adverts, you may expect some acrobatics as well. Finally, I decided to
take my now 18-year-old son and my 21-year-old daughter. First, we went for
sushi (excellent and inexpensive at Fin’s on Boylston Street), and then a
brisk, frigid dash to the Wang.
Shen Yun turned out to be a performance with the feel of the many, many
dance recitals I went to over a long stretch of years to see my dancer
daughter perform. Granted, my expectations were high. The fact that this
performance is at the Wang lends it a level of gravity, credibility,
authenticity, and other “ity’s” that are hard to live up to. Because it
is, after all, the Wang!
First, it is costly. The cheapest seat was $80, plus $10 ticketing fee. We
went for the $88, plus $10, but there were empty seats and so people moved
around a little in order to get some breathing room. The seats are very
tight in the balcony, like those on a two-engine, Delta commuter flight. My
son was grateful for the aisle so he could sprawl at least one of his legs
toward freedom, even allowing the man in front of him to unwittingly rest
his elbow on my son’s shoe for about five minutes while leaning over to
read the program by the light of the small aisle light. My son thought it
would be rude to move his foot once the man had settled in. (Same son told
me on the ride home, “I’m not gonna lie, playing with my beard was more
fun.” And I had seen him twiddling his college-grown, freshman facial hair
out of the corner of my eye throughout the entire performance, so he was not
lying.)
shen yun dancerBasically, you are wowed by your surroundings no matter how
many times you attend the Wang, and then you naturally want to be wowed by
what’s on stage. We were, at some moments, brought to the utterance of “
Wow,” but not in the right way. As it turns out, Shen Yun is a series of
dances (recital-length), some featuring pretty costumes and the famous
twirling sleeves. Yes, there are dances with tumbling and flips. Yes, there
is a backdrop that changes with each dance and features cool technology in
which the dancer can go to the back of the stage and step off while
appearing to soar onto the screen as a pre-recorded image of the dancer
takes over. It is a fun touch, though my techie son thought the graphics
were a tad hokie (my words) and hadn’t been updated since 2006 (his words).
The program informed us that this was a patented “system and method for
integrating digital background with stage performance” (U.S. Patent No. 9,
468,860). The program also wanted us to know that they have openings for
orchestra players if anyone was interested, though presumably one wouldn’t
be asked to jump into the orchestra pit that very night. It also told us
about the choreographers and musicians, about a few of the dancers, and
about how to donate to Shen Yun and to Fei Tian, the academy in N.Y. that
trains the dancers.
However, buried in a tiny paragraph under “Art with Spirituality” are the
lines that “Shen Yun’s performers draw their spiritual inspiration from
the meditation discipline and self-improvement practice called Falun Dafa.
Also known as Falun Gong, it is rooted in China’s ancient spiritual
traditions.” Nowhere in the program does it tell you that you are about to
spend a couple hours being told about divine beings and how Heaven is
closing soon so you better get your act together. Falun Gong (as my daughter
read to us from her phone on the car ride home) “is a spiritual practice
founded in China that blends meditation and physical exercise, inspired in
part by Buddhism. After rapid growth and massive demonstrations by Falun
Gong followers during the 1990s, the Chinese Communist Party began a
suppression campaign, banning the practice and jailing, torturing and
attempting to re-educate thousands of followers.” http://www.startribune.com/shen-yun-politics-behind-the-performance/290985131/, February 6, 2015) A group of Falun Gong believers created Shen Yun in 2006 and have grown from one to six dance companies. And growing. It felt, and I said this to my kids, a little like we’d wandered into a cult’s annual performance for their followers.
shen yun dancerThe evening’s performance started with a dance “From Heaven
to Save All” but that seemed like an ancient Chinese story being
replicated on stage, not the theme of the evening. Yet after some more
dances and twirling, etc., suddenly, we were hit with a modern-day setting
and a dance called “Unprecedented Crime” based on “true events.” A young
man is imprisoned and blinded on stage in front of our eyes. Later, after
he’s released, some divine beings seem to float off the screen and restore
his eyesight, in a metaphor for his “reawakened faith.” The audience
around us started to murmur. Then a baritone came on and sang while the
words were translated and projected on the screen behind him, and, suddenly,
you felt as if you were in Sunday school, with the closing line sung three
times, “But Heaven’s gates will not be open for long.” Yikes! More
murmuring.
shen yun instruments
Intermission came next, and some people simply up and left. However, at the
cost of our tickets, we were sticking it out. During intermission, the three
of us stood around wondering when the Cirque du Soleil-type acrobatics were
starting while sadly realizing they weren’t going to. Act II hit us with
“A Celestial World” (self-explanatory) and then some more quaint dances
with stories of devotion and buffoonery (great word) and archery(?). Then a
musician came out to play the erhu (a two-stringed instrument of amazing
complexity), and she was great, though my daughter wondered why the musician
chose to appear for her big moment in what looked like a salmon-pink t-
shirt. We were nearing the end for which I was more than ready. A soprano
sang another lesson of faith with the words “Most everyone on earth comes
from Heaven” (“most everyone”?) and “Many are misled by godlessness and
evolution” (“misled by evolution“?).
D.F.
A note on the instrumental music that accompanied each and every dance: It
was all by the same man, known only as D.F., the founder of Shen Yun. Guess
who wrote all the words to the two operatic songs, as well? Yes, the same D.
F. So the Shen Yun artistic and creative director, as well as chief costume
designer and director of classical Chinese dance, who is also a
distinguished professor at Fei Tian College, is all one and the same. See,
even though he is probably a very nice man, that just screams cult leader to
my brain. (Plus the sunglasses and the initials!)
Lastly, we were presented with the big finish of “The Divine Renaissance
Begins” to which I admit I irreverently muttered “Teletubbies” when a
godlike being came out of a bright yellow sun, with other Crayola-crayon
colors of vivid green and blue on the screen. And all the dancers turned to
him, hands pressed together in prayer. The program says “a new era of hope
begins.” So, yes, a totally positive message, if you’re not one of those
distracted by “Modern thought and ways” that “change us for the worse” (
D.F.’s words). On the whole, this simply wasn’t what we thought we were in
for.
calgon commercialI haven’t mentioned the couple who appeared on stage,
speaking alternately in English and Chinese, cracking jokes, and behaving as
master and mistress of ceremonies in between each act. They also, to my
daughter’s annoyance, were drumming up business by telling us that there
was new choreography each and every year, so even though we’d seen Shen Yun
once, we hadn’t “seen it all.” After a while, every time the master of
ceremonies mentioned “ancient Chinese” anything, in my brain, I said “
Calgon, take me away,” which shows my age if you don’t know that famous
and famously annoying commercial. (Plus, I was mixing up my Calgon
commercials rather horrendously.) I’m sorry to say I found the couple a bit
creepy, too smiley, too jokey, too polished and clean, and yes, reminiscent
of my daughter’s dance teacher telling me what I was about to see before
each dance when, if the dance is inspired, enlightening, and uplifting, one
really doesn’t need a verbal intro.
shen yun gift shop
Shen Yun souvenirs
The elbow-rester from earlier approached me in the lobby when it was over to
ask me what I thought. Still a little shell-shocked and unsure if I was
among similar-minded friends or among Falun Gong devotees, I hedged with “
It wasn’t exactly what I thought.” He told me he’d been to The White
House (yes, THE White House) earlier in the year and had seen a group who
practiced this religion protesting China’s treatment of them outside our
president’s home. I’m not sure what he and his wife hoped to learn at the
Wang, but they seemed satisfied by the performance. Many did not. Some
people around us during the show, especially by the second act, were
laughing. Two men behind us said they could easily be asleep (as I used to
feel during a long dance recital). When we all wandered out to the lobby at
the end, there was not the usual discussion and joie de vivre and
camaraderie after a superb theatrical experience. People were subdued at
best, mocking at worst.
Was there some solid dance last night? Yes. Enough to carry two-and a half
hours of a performance? Absolutely not. (My daughter swore it was four hours
, but that was just her perception through a nasty head cold). Plus those
uncomfortable seats certainly made it feel endless. Perhaps the true story
of the persecution of Falun Dafa, or Falun Gong (presented for the theatre
like a dancing version of The Crucible) would make an interesting show, and
I can imagine tackling that script. However, this muddled show of
lighthearted dance offering vignettes of Chinese history juxtaposed with
violent scenes juxtaposed with religious messages doesn’t work. At least,
not for me. And it certainly isn’t represented by the Shen Yun adverts.
*All images are from the official Shen Yun program, except the YouTube
poster for the Calgon commercial. |
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