By Mabel Pais

NEW YORK CITY (TIP): Preity Uupula, a former Miss India International, said of Shen Yun, “The energy was very powerful in the room. (For) some of the pieces, I just closed my eyes and I felt like it was a meditation. It’s very healing actually.”

Like India, China can be proud of 5000 years of an ancient, rich civilization and culture. Having some of its roots in the ancient Indian spiritual path of Buddhism, Shen Yun, based in New York, has a mission to revive 5000 years of divinely inspired culture.

The last performances of this breathtaking theatrical amazement, for the season, were held at NJPAC (the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, NJ) from May 3-7. For 5,000 years, divine culture flourished in the land of China.

Humanity’s treasure was nearly lost, but through breathtaking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture. Shen Yun means, “The beauty of heavenly beings dancing.”

Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a practice that combines teachings for self improvement and meditation exercises. The teachings are centered on three main principles-truth, compassion, and tolerance.

Shen Yun’s artists practice Falun Dafa, and it is a source of inspiration for their performances. However, over the last 60 years of Communist rule, the regime has treated Chinese values – centered on the idea of harmony between heaven and earth – as a threat to its existence and banned traditional beliefs and practices.

Through the universal language of music and dance, Shen Yun weaves a wondrous tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales, taking you on a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture. Its stunning beauty and tremendous energy leave audiences uplifted and inspired.

A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops-together creating one spectacular performance. The Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra blends the singular beauty of Chinese melodies with the precision and power of the Western orchestra.

“Amazing! The artists perform as if they are fluid bodies with no bones. Gravity does not apply to them. They leap and fly in the air while they perform their numbers…..” quipped Pattie King, audience member at NJPAC.

“Mesmerizing! Reclaiming the divinely inspired cultural heritage of China,” remarked Donna Karan, creator of DKNY.

“I was mesmerized and astonished within the first few minutes…..Shen Yun music proves that not every message needs to be delivered via language or written words…..” Rojin Rahmani, musician.

Shen Yun Performing Arts is the world’s premier classical Chinese Dance and Music company. In 2006, a group of leading classical internationally award winning Chinese artists came together in New York with one wish: to revive the 5000-year-lost world of traditional Chinese culture and share it with the world. Through breath taking music and dance, Shen Yun is bringing back this glorious culture.

Each season, the company produces an all new show and tours with it around the globe, performing at the world’s top venues – Lincoln Center in New York, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, New Jersey, Kennedy Center in Washington, the London Coliseum.

Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heralded as a gift from the divine; and part of that divine gift was a supreme art form that has endured to this day: Classical Chinese Dance. “It (Classical Chinese Dance) has a history of several thousand years in both folk and imperial settings. It served as entertainment for large gatherings and celebrations”, says Ms. H. Sue Guo, Principal, The Fei Tian Academy of the Arts College, New York, the college that trains the performers of Shen Yun. Branches of the college exist in California and Taiwan.

Within China’s grand civilization of 5000 years, many traditions are linked together: martial arts, Chinese opera, folk dance and acrobatics. They all have something in common. Chinese dance has 3 main components: technical skill, form and a special feature called yun or physical bearing. Chinese dance’s technical skills include a whole series of challenging leaps, jumps, flips and many difficult tumbling techniques.

In eastern philosophy, there is a saying “beauty and roundness,” explains choreographer, principal dancer and associate company manager Yungchia Chen. “The path of the movement needs to be circular, rounded and full. It’s different from ballet which focuses on straight lines.”

What takes classical Chinese dance to another level is yun or physical bearing that is a certain sensibility when Chinese people perform classical Chinese dance. “It’s an artistic feeling that rises from the culture” demonstrates dance teacher Gu Yun. When the dancer moves there is an internal energy connected to the breath. The breath meets the body. The breath is crucial.

Over the centuries, the technical skills, form and bearing all come together to make classical Chinese dance one of the richest, most expressive and most demanding art forms in the world.

The training process for each dancer is extremely arduous. Daily training lasts for 7- 8 hours. It takes 6 years schooling just to be good enough to go on stage. After 10 years training in college is completed.

Every year, Shen Yun creates a whole new production with original dances, costumes and music. By adding the distinctive melodies of ancient Chinese instruments, over Western orchestration, Shen Yun brings together two of the greatest classical musical traditions the world has ever known.

Johnny Stuart, music director, calls the music “just phenomenal, mind blowing!” Music conductor Leon Natker says that “putting together classical Chinese instruments and classical western instruments is a way towards the future for me as a musician.” Jing Xian, a composer of the performance, says, “Both these (Chinese and western) musical systems are excellent. But it’s just like cooking. You might have great ingredients but if we don’t understand the characteristics of the ingredients, and to stir fry random things together, it simply won’t taste good.”

Shen Yun music displays China’s traditional melodies. Just like dance, music can also present different times, places, characters and moods. China has 5 millennia worth of culture: from the melodic styles of over 50 ethnic groups to grand imperial court music and lavish folk tunes. This heritage is an endless source of inspiration.

“What we are taking on is a responsibility we simply cannot shirk. There are times when I really feel it’s our life’s mission. It may take many life times to complete.” “I have dedicated my entire life to the arts. Yet it was only after I reached my 70s that I found that this is where it has the greatest meaning,” says Ms. H. Sue Guo, Principal, The Fei Tian Academy of the Arts College, New York.

(Mabel Pais is a freelance writer. She writes on theater, health and wellness, social issues and spirituality)