SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS REVIEWS

Shen Yun’s Message ‘Will Eventually Become a Reality’ Says German Theatregoer

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Shen Yun’s Message ‘Will Eventually Become a Reality’ Says German Theatregoer
Dr. Marie Launay and Dirte Hahn at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22.Haying/The Epoch Times

LUDWIGSBURG, Germany—As a birthday present, Dr. Marie Launay, scientific director at the Institute for Sanitary Engineering, was treated to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22.

“The level of music and dance was incredible and the many colors were so beautiful to see,” she said.

“It was like a journey—a cultural journey—these bright colors were so full of life, we could travel with them.”

According to the company’s website, Shen Yun’s costumes and colors are true to traditional aesthetics and styles, painting each dance piece with the splendor of the past.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. The company also presents folk and ethnic dances as well as story-based pieces that tell the tales from ancient China to the modern day.

“We have just seen that through political changes, culture that is over thousands of years old can just disappear,” said Dr. Launay.

“It’s nice that Chinese culture is preserved. Because through this show, it is preserved … it doesn’t get lost.”

Since the company’s inception in 2006, their mission has been to revive China’s 5,000-year-old traditional culture. The age-old culture has been on the brink of extinction since the Chinese communist regime seized power in 1949. Shen Yun says its performances demonstrate “China before communism.”
In regards to Shen Yun’s orchestra that blends ancient Chinese instruments into a Western orchestra, Dr. Launay said the erhu, Chinese two-stringed instrument, “was magical.”

“Immediately you think that this sound is a thousand years old … something timeless,” she said.

Listening to the erhu soloist, she said she felt “peace” and a “continuity in time.”

“It’s like the time of yesterday has a resonance to the time of today—a continuity in time—therefore, we are also connected to the past.”

Along with myths and legends from ancient times, Shen Yun presents story-based dances depicting the persecution of the spiritual practice Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong. These adherents practice meditation and follow the principles truth, compassion, and tolerance, carrying on the traditional spiritual culture. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a persecution against the practice in 1999, and adherents have since been subjected to unprecedented imprisonment, torture, and abuse.

“I think that’s very brave and very committed and I have respect for that,” Dr. Launay said. “It was very engaging to show something like that on stage.”

Accompanying Dr. Launay to the performance was Dirte Hahn, secretary, who said the principles of Falun Dafa: truth, compassion, tolerance are essential tenets to embody.

“The values are important … that’s what you should live,” she said, “because they bring cohesion [and] togetherness.”

On the contrary, she said, the corruption of values by communism “only divide people and everyone only looks out for themselves.”

‘They Live These Stories’

Traveling one and a half hours to get to the performance from Aalen, Germany, the Benninger family was truly impressed by the Shen Yun performance.
Ralph and Ulrike Benninger with their daughter Sonja at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22. (Haying/The Epoch Times)
Ralph and Ulrike Benninger with their daughter Sonja at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22. Haying/The Epoch Times

“Very impressive,” said Ralph Benninger, “From [the] history to the present, this evolution was very well presented …I personally liked it very much.”

Mr. Benninger works in sales and him and his family have traveled to China several times. He said seeing Shen Yun brought back fond memories.

“There are many things that we have rediscovered,” he said, “We’ve seen ethnic dances in the country [and] other similar dances also—but not comparable to [Shen Yun]!

According to the company’s website, Shen Yun has preserved the true aesthetics of this classical dance system—the way it has been passed down from antiquity— and presents this authentic culture in its purest form.

Mrs. Benninger was impressed with the “radiance” and “charisma” of the Shen Yun dancers.

“The movement … [and] body language, the way the dancers [are] just floating over the stage … one has the feeling that they live these stories,” she said.

Shen Yun presents a culture that draws upon ancient China’s Buddhist and Daoist philosophies. 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, says the company’s website.

“Values like empathy, helpfulness … have a certain importance and are lost today,” she said, “[Shen Yun] shows that again.”

Mr. Benninger said the representation of values from the Chinese dynasties to today even under the CCP, is “very vividly depicted.”

“What we saw was the origin of culture, this divinity that was there in principle, now compared to the present where many things are lived quite differently,” he said.

The Benningers enjoyed the performance so much they said they would like to come again.

‘I Bow Down to It’

This was the first time Gerhard Ascherl, master television technician, and his Barbara Ascherl, management assistant, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts and they were so amazed they were left “speechless.”
Gerhard and Barbara Ascherl at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22. (NTD)
Gerhard and Barbara Ascherl at the Forum am Schlosspark in Baden-Württemberg, Germany on Feb. 22. NTD
“I am still totally flabbergasted by the performance … [and] fascinated by all that I’ve seen,” said Mr. Ascherl.

“I bow down to it … [with] great respect!”

“The work as a whole: Every single performer, that harmony, that choreography, the skill from the performers, the togetherness … it was just fascinating!” he said.

“I’m also fascinated by Chinese history, Chinese culture ... that’s a pity it’s not like that today,” he added, “and that’s why I’m absolutely thrilled with what [Shen Yun’s] created here!”

“I can only hope that [Shen Yun’s] influence will be greater … I believe that the big picture will eventually become a reality.”

Mrs. Ascherl was “touched me the most” by Shen Yun’s finale.

“This reference to the current situation … and then this comforting resolution … that’s how we would all wish it [to be].”

“Because we are all part of the whole, no matter where we are in this world,” she added, “that message…[was] so strongly felt.”

Reporting by Haying, 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.
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