SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun Is ‘Bringing Us Back to the Divine and Humanity’ Says Former Ballerina

Apr 29, 2023

SYDNEY, Australia—Tanya Watkinson, a retired ballet dancer, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Sydney Lyric Theatre on April 29.

“It’s very beautiful storytelling,” said Mrs. Watkinson, “a lyrical, colourful performance that takes you on a journey.”

“You can see beautiful precision in the artistry and the technique,” she said. “[A]nything that looks so easy, I know is made from a great deal of hard work.

Based in New York, Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Along with folk dances and solo performances, the production depicts story-based pieces that tell tales from ancient times to the modern-day.

As a former ballet dancer, Mrs. Watkinson was amazed by the “incredible synchronicity and the beautiful flow of movement” between the dancers, the live orchestra, and the 3D animated backdrop.

Regarding Shen Yun’s orchestra that blends Eastern and Western classical instrumentation into a Western orchestra, she said. “[L]ive music carries the whole audience—there’s a vibration to the whole performance—and it holds the audience and the dancers as well.”

Inner Expression Through Dance

With its flips and gentle elegance, Chinese classical dance is one of the most athletic and expressive art forms in the world. According to the company’s website, classical Chinese dance involves a dance-acting element where coordinating facial expressions with physical movements results in an amplified form of expression.

Appreciating the differences between Western ballet and classical Chinese dance, Mrs. Watkinson said she could see “lots and lots of gestures that are definitely unique.”

“It’s lovely to see, it’s got that character,” she said, “but I also know it has to come from an inner stillness and a great deal of dynamic force within the body to be able to do that and make it look so graceful and easy.”

“It’s not something that comes from sheer brute strength, but from an inner quality.”

According to the company’s website, that inner quality or “bearing,” which can be defined as the technique for expressing specific inner feelings, is one the main components of Chinese classical dance training.

A Divine Connection

In the past, artists looked to the divine for inspiration and cultivated virtue in order to create uplifting art. Today, Shen Yun’s artists follow in this noble tradition, which is why audiences feel there is something different about Shen Yun, according to the company’s website.

“Dance, in particular, has a long history in trying to show humanity the beauty of the divine and life,” said Mrs. Watkinson, “and [Shen Yun’s] doing a marvellous job in showing that.”

“It is lovely to see these rich spiritual traditions being brought forward like that … it’s essential,” she said. “[I]t’s time to definitely find our spiritual selves within this world; otherwise, we will get so disconnected.”

Having come “so far away from our past,” she said that Shen Yun is beautifully “bringing us back to the divine and humanity.”

Since 2006, Shen Yun has performed at top theatres worldwide with a mission to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture. Demonstrating “China before communism,” Shen Yun is banned from performing in China.

“I think it’s a big, big shame for China,” said Mrs. Watkinson, “there’s so many people in China that must be craving this history, craving the outlet of dance and storytelling, and a remembrance back to the beauty of what they know—which is clearly a very rich culture and a very, very rich history.”

Reporting by NTD and Jennifer Schneider.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.