MOBILE, Ala.—Shen Yun, the classical Chinese dance
phenomenon sweeping the globe, fascinated and impressed Charmein Moser. Ms. Moser is a musician, retired public school teacher, and member of the Board of Mobile Opera. She attended the performance in Mobile, Alabama, with Bruce Moser on the afternoon of April 30.
“Many of our board members are very familiar with
Shen Yun and have seen it before,“ said Ms. Moser, who raved about ”the pageantry, the gorgeous dancing, [and] the orchestra.”
“The music was just wonderful,” she continued. “And visually, it was outstanding. And I admire the talent, the hard work that goes with it. And the message too.”
Shen Yun’s mission is to revive Chinese culture damaged by communist rule. Based in New York, Shen Yun’s seven touring companies
perform in the world’s most prestigious theaters with a brand new program each year. Part of its
mission is to raise awareness about the faith traditions under attack by the atheist communist regime; faith traditions that have been the backbone of Chinese civilization for thousands of years.
“[The traditions] are being taken from us. And we’re living in a dangerous world.
Shen Yun is living in a very dangerous world. After I'd bought my tickets, the next Epoch Times front page [story] was about the problems in New York,” she said, referring to the threats received by Shen Yun performers from communist agents.
Tradition Above All
Ms. Moser said she sees clearly the contrast between modern Chinese culture under communism and the faith-based traditions presented by
Shen Yun.
“In the past 100 years, the values that the traditional Chinese culture held are sadly missing in a lot of places today. But that’s what makes a world that people can live in.”
Mr. Moser concurred.
Shen Yun “just shows the rest of the world what traditional culture was like. And I don’t think a lot of people are aware of that, and it’s great that it’s being put out there for everyone,” he said, adding that he deeply respects traditional values of any country. “More and more we see our traditional values in this country are going into the abyss, and that’s not good.”
Seeing the performers’ dedicated work to hone and extend these arts gives Mrs. Moser hope.
“It makes you feel good, that there are people who are continuing to do that, because those are the values that we need. And just knowing that there they are there, they haven’t disappeared.”
The Music of Shen Yun
“The music was such a wonderful mixture of the traditional Chinese music and the orchestration which sounded more Western,” said Ms. Moser, referring to
Shen Yun’s East-meets-West orchestra. By accenting a full Western orchestra with key
Chinese instruments like the pipa, erhu, suona, and percussion like the gong, Shen Yun Orchestra produces a unique sound that marries the stage action perfectly, yet can stand alone on its own merits.
“The orchestra was very much like the opera; it had everything—every element of the arts. It had the
background, it had the music, the singing, the staging, the costumes, the orchestra course, and it was it was just a total artistic production,” said Ms. Moser.
In addition to the orchestra, Shen Yun features soloists:
singers and an
erhu instrumental.
Shen Yun practices the bel canto singing style, which features the voice without digital amplification.
“It’s the way that opera singers were trained in the past and continue sometimes today. We hope that more people will do that, so they actually learn how to sing without accessories,” said Ms. Moser.
“It portrays traditional values that we still hope are evident in our culture. And we hope again, for China,” concluded Ms. Moser.
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