WASHINGTON D.C.—Yun Wang, president of the National Association of Asian American Professionals’ D.C. chapter, connected with the pure Chinese culture presented in Shen Yun Performing Arts.
A lot of the dances, depicting a range of legends and stories from the 5,000 years of Chinese history, were ones Mr. Wang had heard or experienced before.
“I had learned it actually before I turned 4, so a lot of it brought back memories,” he said, after seeing Shen Yun at The Kennedy Center on Tuesday night. “For me, that was a plus.”
New York-based Shen Yun traverses the globe with one mission—to revive the ancient Chinese culture, one that was nearly lost because of the repressive communist regime.
“For 5,000 years divine culture blossomed in the land of China,” Shen Yun’s website states. “Mankind’s treasure was nearly lost, but through captivating music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing a divine culture back to life.”
The core of a performance is classical Chinese dance, an art form that is both one of the most difficult to master and comprehensive in the entire world. The dancers are adorned with handcrafted costumes.
Mr. Wang said the performance was beautiful. “I really especially enjoyed all of the outfits that synchronized well with the dance movements,” he said. “It just became very hypnotic.”
From the story of the beginnings of the famed Shaolin monastery to a piece showing an ethnic dance of the Mongolians, Shen Yun presents a range of culture that pleases Chinese and non-Chinese alike.
Mr. Wang felt he connected even more deeply with the stories by being familiar with them from such a young age.
“For me, having that type of background really made it much more enjoyable because because I got more of the subtleties as well,” he said.
The energy from the artists, the costumes, and the culture blended into a performance was very memorable, said Mr. Wang. Also, “the color, the mesmerizing colors, is something that will basically live on as a vivid memory.”
Reporting by NTD Television and Zachary Stieber.
Shen Yun Performing Arts, based in New York, tours the world on a mission to revive traditional Chinese culture. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
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