On March 21 at 8:00p.m., I travelled to San Francisco with my mother to attend the Shen Yun Opera Dancing Show at the Orpheum Theater.
The non-profit Shen Yun is a performing arts and entertainment company founded in 2006 with the mission of reviving “the essence of 5000 years of Chinese culture” (“Mission” 2009). The entire performance consists of classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dance, and story-based dance. The Shen Yun Orchestra accompanies the dance troop and solo performers by blending ancient Chinese instruments with a full Western orchestra. The entire show was approximately two hours long, and included a fifteen minute intermission.
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I was very impressed by the dancers’ excellent dancing skills. They used their physical movements to tell the ancient Chinese stories to the audiences. The brilliant music was the perfect accompaniment to the various dancing themes. As a matter of fact, I was most impressed by the Shen Yun Orchestra as they enriched the content and spiritual context of the dancing. In particular, the dancing and the theme from one of the Chinese legends was greatly enhanced by the orchestra. The Chinese legend, “Journey to the West” (“Xi You Ji” in Chinese), was incredibly performed by both the orchestra and the dancers as it served as an excellent example of the typical classical Chinese dance.
My mother and I had excellent seats on the right side of the Orchestra area. We were situated just behind a portion of the orchestra team, but not enough to obscure our view. I could see the stage very well and I had the added bonus of experiencing the vibrations of the music as attributed to our close proximity to the orchestra. I was surprised that no singer was featured during the show. The only performance was by the symphony accompanied by the dancers.
The opening scene was very magnificent and showcased a hundred dancers on the stage. They were all fully dressed in exotic, intricate costumes, and some of them carried props like colorful handkerchiefs, drums, chopsticks, or silk scarves. The costumes served to tell the story of ancient Chinese classic legends. The costumes of the dancers spectacularly portrayed ancient Chinese court dancers, soldiers, and other characters from classic stories. The music in the opening was so marvelous as the instruments played in perfect harmony. I could distinctly hear hear Pipa, Suona, Dizi, Guzheng, and a host of other traditional Chinese percussion instruments. After the opening scene, the instruments in the following themes were specifically selected to underscore the particular theme. Since the content of each theme differed, the melody, pace, and topic of the music matched the theme to lend it more credence. For example, there was a scene in which there was only one male dancer performing a solo martial dance. The music for that section was an allegro, and the major instruments were Chinese Erhu and Paiban. Surprisingly, in addition to Chinese traditional instruments, Western instruments played for the show which gave it a decidedly more modern flavor. I remember there was also a solo dance scene wherein a female dancer was role playing as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Xi Shi lived during the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. During that part of the show, the violin was the only instrument playing. However, I was experiencing a totally different musical interpretation through the Chines violin as opposed to the violin used in Western.
Besides the unforgettable music, I also love the story-based dance which was in the third theme. During this scene, the repertoire was drawn from stories from “Journey to the West.” This was my favorite story from childhood, so it is no wonder that I was drawn to it during the performance. I was enthralled with how the dancers brought this story to life for me and allowed me a different view of this childhood favorite. There were four major four dancers in the scene who were wearing costumes to represent the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, the Monkey King-Sun Wukong, the Pig of the Eight Prohibitions-Zhu Bajie, and the Sand Awakened to Purity-Sha Wujing. Unlike the regular role-play of the story, the characters performed through dancing and no dialogue. Therefore, I feel that the Classic Chinese Dance is not only a tradition of simply dancing but also, with the characters’ innate spirit, can be understood as Yun or bearing. The dancers performed a myriad of physically challenging moves, such as leaps, flips, jumps, and tumbling. I have not seen such fantastical artistry in any other dancing show. In addition to the dance, the dancers were also playing the props. For instance, Sun Wukong twirled his magic golden cudgel. The entire scene was very intense based upon its story content, “San Da Bai Gujing”. I simply fell in love with the show and was attracted by the movements of the dancers.
After the conclusion of the Shen Yun Dance Show, there was thunderous applause that lasted one minute, and the dancers and orchestra received a standing ovation from the audience. As I looked around at the audience, I noticed that there were not only Chinese people watching the show, but also many people from other countries. No one left the theatre disappointed because the show was fabulous. For me, I think the success of Shen Yun Dance Show is due to the dancers’ highly developed dancing skills, brilliant accompanied music, and the wonderful stage settings and props. The Shen Yun Dance Show has developed its mission to revive the essence of five-thousand-years of Chinese culture. The significance of this performance is to let everyone know, on a global scale, about the amazing ancient Chinese art. In this show, Chinese dancers fully presented the Chinese bearing “Yun” to the audiences. Different styles of dance reflect the cultural essence of their respective nationalities and regions. Shen Yun Dance Show authenticates the classic Chinese dance that reflects specific Chinese ethic and cultural memories. The show not only serves as entertainment for large gatherings, but also builds a connection to the cultural foundation of the Chinese people thereby making it a treasure to pass down over generations.
