NEW YORK—Former executive director of Freedom House, Leonard Sussman, 93, was whisked back in time to ancient China by Shen Yun Performing Arts at Lincoln Center on Sunday.
Classical Chinese Dance, at the heart of every Shen Yun performance, has a vast history of thousands of years. “While soaking up profound wisdom from every era and dynasty,” its form of dancing requires “bearing,” an emphasis on internal, deep, emotional expression, explains Shen Yun’s website.
“It was a sense of conveying words and thoughts into dance, which I think is a really triumphant thing if you can pull it off—which they did,” Mr. Sussman, was the director of Freedom House for 21 years, said. Freedom House supports democratic change, monitors freedom, and advocates for democracy and human rights, according to its website.
“As the former director of Freedom House, I am particularly moved by the several dance and musical references to the bad things happening in China. It was a dramatic portrayal of today’s reality in a traditional form,” Mr. Sussman said. “By ‘bad things’ I meant oppression of free speech and human rights.”
Several dances depict the modern day persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Gong in China, a meditation practice based on truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance, according to Shen Yun’s program book.
“Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the 5,000 year old, divinely inspired culture of China,” says its website.
“Unfortunately, over the past 60 years, this cultural treasure has been persecuted and co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party. It is outside of China that Shen Yun’s artistic creators have the ability to freely express themselves and their ancient culture. Their courage to speak up is an integral part of Shen Yun’s spirit.”
Mr. Sussman, said he was particularly impressed and moved by Shen Yun’s Tibetan Dance—Khata For the Gods. The dance is filled with articulate steps and stomps, while dancing with the Khata, “a traditional scarf presented to guests. Here they offer it to the gods as a sign of reverence and devotion,” says the program book.
“I was the person to bring the Dalai Lama to the United States, on his first trip,” said Mr. Sussman. “When he left, he left me with one of the Khatas. That was immediately brought to mind when I saw that particular performance. It was quite personal for me.”
Mr. Sussman features the Dalai Lama in one of his recent books, A Passion for Freedom: My Encounters with Extraordinary People (Prometheus 2004).”
Choreography and Grace
“The choreography was tremendous,” Mr. Sussman said of Shen Yun’s vast array of dances. “I was very impressed with the active spirit.”
In addition to profound expressions of grace, Shen Yun dancers must also master advanced technical skills such as flipping and turning at the same time, according to company’s website.
“The way the moves carried into the background, it’s just amazing,” Mr. Sussman said of the interactive digital backdrop. The backdrop transports the audience from grand, sacred temples to the colorful wilderness of Mongolian plains, and other “spectacular landscapes [that] truly reflect China’s multifaceted geography, society, regions, and dynasties,” states Shen Yun’s website.
“I’ve never seen that done before,” Mr. Sussman said.
Mr. Sussman expressed his appreciation of the spiritual themes that run through the performance.
Spiritual principles such as benevolence, honor, and wisdom, as well as a reverence for the divine, is a core part of traditional Chinese culture, ccording to Shen Yun’s website. In addition to ethnic and traditional dances, Shen Yun also performs several folk dances, illustrating legends with a humorous moral.
“I liked how the themes were expressed before each performance,” said Mr. Sussman. “That was well done.” Two Masters of Ceremonies give a brief bilingual introduction before each program.
“It enabled someone like me, who is really not specialized [in Chinese], to understand what was going on,” Mr. Sussman said. “So I appreciated the whole thing.”
Mr. Sussman mentioned his son is an associate professor of performance studies,“ adding that ”this is particularly the kind of thing he'd be interested in ... And hoped that he will get in touch with it.”
Reporting by Pamela Tsai and Amelia Pang.
New York-based Shen Yun has three companies touring the world. Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will next perform at Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island, Jan. 19.
For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3WTKCEA4tE[/video]
