Shen Yun performers return to North Texas

How often do you have the chance to experience a show that will leave you filled with joy and hope? World-class Shen Yun Performing Arts will return to perform three shows at the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas, Feb 5-6, 2010, with breathtaking classical Chinese dance and orchestral music as part of its world tour.

China was once known as the “Land of the Divine,” as people once believed Chinese culture to be a gift from heaven. Virtue and piety were emphasized in daily life. Sadly though, over time, much of this great culture has been lost. Until now.

Shen Yun Performing Arts is reviving the long-lost treasures of China by presenting a series of original performances across the globe.

Consisting of three dancing companies, two orchestras, and a host of choreographers, composers, costume designers, backdrop artists, and artistic staff, the New York-based Shen Yun toured over 100 cities in five continents and attracted over 800,000 audience members in 2009.

A program of about 20 masterful dances and songs brings to life China’s 5,000-year celebrated history.

State-of-the-art digital backdrops and brilliant authentically designed costumes will transport you to a land of beauty and enchantment. This cultural renaissance, centering on classical themes and Chinese traditions that define “beauty” and “compassion,” restores the essence of authentic Chinese traditions of “virtue” and “value” and brings its true spirit to the stage.

“We want to provide our audiences with an experience to consummate beauty and goodness,” said Timothy Wu, one of Shen Yun’s principal dancers. “We want to bring out what is timeless and most precious from the culture.”

In that spirit, Shen Yun seeks to reach with its shows beyond merely entertainment, to explore some of the deeper facets of our shared humanity. The performance is not only thrilling, but at the same time educational, enlightening, and inspiring.

With their unique capacity to vividly tell a story, dance and music have proved to be the perfect medium. The Shen Yun has been getting the highest affirmations. Audiences can step into the last days of China’s imperial past, the Qing Dynasty, with the elegant ladies of the Manchurian court; save the country with General Yue Fei, the paragon of courage; or simply pause to savor spring’s fresh forsythia blossoms.

Mr. Richard Connema, a critic for Talkin’ Broadway magazine called the Shen Yun Performing Arts “mind-blowing.”

“I probably have reviewed over three to four thousand shows since 1942,” Connema said. “A lot of reviewers use stars … I will give this production five stars.

“The dancers were absolutely fantastic… I found out that there was not only dancing in this, but heart. You could feel that coming even from where I was sitting (in the balcony) –just a beautiful production. I’ve seen enough Broadway shows that still cannot compare to what I saw tonight. The best word to use was ‘mind-blowing.’’

Joshua Bell, an internationally renowned violinist, was so moved by the Shen Yun Performing Arts, he would like to adapt some of the Shen Yun music to the violin, so that he, too, may play it. Mr. Bell saw the show at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington D.C. in February. “I liked it very much,” said Bell. “It was very powerful, very emotional. I had a great time.”

In San Francisco, distinguished choreographer Inna Bayer was “marveled” at the performance. “I cannot but marvel and be enraptured by the grandiose work done by the creators of the show,” she said. “This is a great achievement—to create, in immigration, the ethnic company and to bring it to such a high level that they could perform at the best stages in the U.S. and around the world.”

World-renowned cellist Christine Walevska has come to see the performance for the last four years. She used the words “beauty, purity, sincerity, excellence” to sum up her feelings about the show. “I just cannot believe how they have different costumes each year, different dances,” she said. “The music is gorgeous, and it was just marvelous. I loved every minute of it.

“It puts you in another world … has the capacity of lifting peoples’ spirits and inspiring their souls, and that’s what you have with this show.”

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