What Makes the Shen Yun “Dream”?

What is Shen Yun, that MC Thanh Bach was moved to say “If our lives are full of dreams, then this is a show more beautiful than any dream”?

Not only MC Thanh Bach, but many of the distinguished guests at the Shen Yun Performing Arts introduction event on Wednesday, March 27, organized by Viet My Traditional Culture Company at the Sofitel Saigon hotel, were truly amazed to learn that such a pinnacle of art exists in the world.

Having once had the chance to see Shen Yun live, choreographer John Huy Tran was still moved as he shared his impressions:

“I saw this show in Canada two years ago. The whole program was wonderful. While I was watching, I forgot everything else because it was so magical!”

Also joining the conversation was choreographer and Meritorious Artist Tran Phu, who exclaimed:

“Tonight I can only say one short word… Wonderful! To be honest, we could only understand how great ancient Chinese culture was through literary works such as Dream of the Red Chamber, Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms and Journey to the West, or through the poems of Bai Juyi, Du Fu or Li Bai. But tonight we were fortunate to see and hear an introduction to traditional Chinese dance. I must say it is extremely unique. To me, everything is charming, everything is captivating. As the MC said, it is divine beings dancing, not people anymore. So much skill, so masterful and so wonderful.”

And choreographer People’s Artist Dang Hung, Vice President of the Dance Artists’ Association and Chairman of the Arts Council of the Ho Chi Minh City Dance Artists’ Association, offered through his own lens a broader view of dance performance in general and Shen Yun Performing Arts in particular to the guests:

“Dance performance has its own characteristics. First is movement, second is formation, third is the dance path, fourth is the body and fifth is emotion – only when these five come together do they become the language of dance. And here it is complete, so complete that we can count each one, each type…”

The veteran artist continued:

“The technique is masterful… First comes natural talent, second is study, third is hard training, fourth is discovery and fifth is creativity. These five factors together become ability. Here, I’d say it goes beyond ability. Put simply, it is wonderful, beyond wonderful!”

So what makes these “wonderful” artists, so that through Shen Yun’s dances alone, viewers can feel every pure and deeply moving emotion of both art and culture?

What makes a Shen Yun dancer?

1. Rigorous training:

According to People’s Artist Dang Hung, it is rigorous training – training to the point that dance technique becomes the artist’s instinct. Sharing this view, writer and literary critic Le Quang Trang, former President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers’ Association and Vice President of the Vietnam Writers’ Association, said:

“I was very impressed by the dance. The dance can be said to be superb and above all technique. In the words of a famous dancer, my longtime friend Dang Hung, it goes beyond technique and becomes instinct, reaching a very high standard of art and intellect.”

Director Tran Hoa Yen (VTV9, Vietnam Television) truly admired the dedication of Shen Yun’s artists. She shared:

“A true artist, when stepping onto the stage, has to put their whole heart into it. People say an artist must train more than 200% offstage to reach 100% on stage. But watching the clips, the dancers [Shen Yun] put in even 300% to have their moment of brilliance on stage. That is truly admirable.”

As someone who works in the arts, MC Thanh Bach spoke about cultivating the qualities of an artist:

“A single mistake on stage by one person affects the quality of the whole company; one musician who plays a wrong note or misses a note affects the whole orchestra and the whole dance troupe too. All of this requires a very high standard, and reaching that standard takes giving your very best effort. And when the artists soar – and what matters is that the whole company soars, from the musicians to the dancers – that elevation bursts through the theater. It’s an uplifting emotion, and after seeing it,… it helps solve each person’s problems, of health, of mind and of spirit, and so on…”

Feeling for Shen Yun’s artists, choreographer and Meritorious Artist Xuan Va was moved:

“Sitting and watching the drops of sweat fall, I felt so much for them; it stirred a very deep and real emotion. So watching it, I really admire them – my friends, the younger ones, even those young enough to be my children – on stage, pouring out sweat, tears, even blood. I don’t know how to say it, I just feel so much for them.”

Indeed, to reach the technical standard of a Shen Yun dancer, one needs a will as strong as steel and limbs as soft as willows, needs to break through the limits of the body to know that the only limit lies in one’s own mind, needs to train day after day, year after year, needs to face the fear deep in one’s heart and conquer it, and needs to go through more than a hundred failures to achieve a thousand successes on stage…

“So pristine, so perfect. You can see that every movement has been practiced hundreds of thousands of times, even small movements like tilting the head or placing the foot. You can see perfect discipline, you know they put their heart into their art. And it’s amazing to see; you can’t watch without admiration”, shared dancer Nicole Wong.

Not only marveling at the technique and level of performance, People’s Physician Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Cong, Director of Thong Nhat Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, sincerely shared his thoughts on the rigorous training of Shen Yun’s artists, who go beyond every limit:

“I admire the rigorous training of those artists and the ingenuity of the choreographers and creators of this program, who have combined so many arts together. Through this, we see that human beings have wonderful abilities and can do things we think are impossible.”

However, is rigorous training enough to make a Shen Yun artist? Dancer Ngoc Anh expressed her surprise at something interesting she learned from the introduction program:

“What impressed me most is that when they talk about dance and music, what they talk about most is the morality of a dancer, of a musician or anyone, and they really emphasize cultivating one’s character first. Before being a good performer, you must first be a good person.”

Rigorous training, a persistent and tireless will, and constant humility with a pure state of mind – perhaps these are what everyone can feel about Shen Yun’s performers. It is a harmony of soul and intellect, a blend of eagerness to learn and sincere humility. Perhaps that is why, after seeing the introduction of Shen Yun, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Cong exclaimed:

“The beauty of Shen Yun can be said to be wonderful for all the human senses; it makes you love life more, want to live more and feel that life is very beautiful.”

2. Elevation from within

MC Thanh Bach shared: “In just one minute on stage, who you are and what your inner self is like are seen by everyone.” That is why, as a student, his teachers taught him that “Professional skills come later; morality must be learned first. Because that is the long road.”

Dancer Ngoc Anh further shared her thoughts about Shen Yun’s artists:

“Stillness… For me it is so still; even on stage, no matter what, if the heart is not still, it could not be like that on stage.”

Indeed, what is special about watching Shen Yun, as almost all audiences around the world note, is the very precise and uniform coordination between the orchestra and the performers, and among the performers across the pieces, within each piece, each movement and each breath. Watching these pieces, audiences feel as if the performers are not separate individuals but one unified whole.

So how does Shen Yun achieve this? As the artists of Shen Yun share, in every minute of daily life, whether training or performing, each person must first learn to let go of their ego, learn sincere humility, understand that success comes not from one individual but from the collective spirit, learn to align their body and mind with the universal values of Truthfulness – Compassion – Forbearance, and learn to perfect themselves before changing the world. That is why audiences can feel the seamless, selfless coordination of the whole company of Shen Yun dancers on stage.

MC Thanh Bach shared:

“When I was introduced to the whole system of Shen Yun Performing Arts, I felt that empathy and mutual understanding are extremely important. Without a bridge of mutual understanding, many problems arise in the world, and even between two people of different ethnicities, or of sister ethnic groups within the same country – without empathy and understanding there will be many disagreements and it will be hard to agree… It is the meeting of art and science. That means the combination must be like mathematics, allowing no error, yet it is also full of emotion, not rigid like mathematics; it must be art… So this is a truly wonderful coordination; it fits together down to every detail.”

3. The courage to swim against the current

2019 is the 13th consecutive year that Shen Yun Performing Arts has returned to tour major theaters in nearly 150 cities across Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia.

Founded by Chinese artists and based in New York, USA, with the mission of reviving 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through the borderless language of music and dance, Shen Yun Performing Arts has helped millions of people around the world experience and discover ancient Eastern culture, its moral values and the rich uniqueness of one of humanity’s oldest civilizations.

Through dance and music, Shen Yun conveys traditional culture in a way that people of any nation can fully enjoy, reaching for higher values from deep within the soul. The dances are newly staged every year and are rich in culture, taking audiences on a journey to the majestic Tibetan plateau, the long riverbanks of Dai ethnic villages, or the vast Mongolian steppe… There are also beloved tales from ancient to modern times such as Journey to the West, Nezha and Wu Song; and noble figures whose moral example is still very relevant to modern life, such as the heroine Mulan, the undefeated general Han Xin, the loyal and valiant general Yue Fei, and more…

The Mulan piece

People’s Artist Dang Hung shared at the program:

“Watching the program about 5,000 years of civilization, I realized something in my heart: [họ] they are swimming against the current, and doing so very bravely. While others are looking for new paths, different paths, not paying much attention to tradition, they are walking that path. And not tradition from recent times, but tradition from prehistoric times… There is no nation without tradition. And without tradition there is no nation, so raising the question of tradition is wonderful. I think the question of tradition today is wonderful.”

Choreographer and Meritorious Artist Tran Phu also “saw that the spirit and soul of 5,000 years of civilization are recreated by Shen Yun with a very contemporary and very precious breath.”

Child psychology and family counselor Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang shared something that surprised her:

“The direction of restoring traditional culture that Shen Yun is pursuing is something many other countries want but cannot achieve, yet Shen Yun has done it. What is wonderful about them is that they do it not in their own country but in faraway America.”

“As a person of Chinese descent living in Vietnam who once lived in California, I feel quite cut off from my culture and have never really had anything connecting me to my Chinese heritage. It’s wonderful to come here and see this superb cultural performance. I really hope to see it [Shen Yun] sometime in the future” – dancer Nicole Wong shared.

Choreographer John Huy Tran shared his thoughts on the meaning of Shen Yun’s restoration of traditional cultural values:

“The program will be ‘eye-opening’ for everyone, not only because it is very good, the dancing is beautiful and the music wonderful, but because when we talk about culture and tradition, it will remind everyone to think about themselves again and to treasure that more.”

Sharing the view of choreographer and Meritorious Artist Tran Phu, MC Thanh Bach explained in more detail:

“That traditional art must be raised to the level of our times, but the question is how to raise it while keeping its roots intact, making it more beautiful, better and easier to empathize with and understand among many countries in the world – what we call friendship. And friendship today is the dream of all humanity. I greatly admire it, and if the company comes to Vietnam, I will be the first to go and see it.”

The wish to see Shen Yun with their own eyes

After nearly 2 hours at the event learning about Shen Yun Performing Arts, Mr. Lam Phuong left the hall with a lingering feeling of attachment, anticipation and hope:

“Truly, even now, after stepping out of the hall, the emotions still linger.”

The guests all felt that they gained not only emotions but also knowledge and useful things for their work and lives. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Cong shared:

“Today I was very fortunate to attend the introduction of Shen Yun, and I found it a feast for the eyes and ears; I feel that life has become more beautiful, I feel happier and love life more… The beauty of Shen Yun can be said to be wonderful for all the human senses; it makes you love life more, want to live more and feel that life is very beautiful.”

As the teacher of many generations of Vietnamese dancers, People’s Artist Le Ngoc Cuong, former Director of the Department of Performing Arts, especially expressed his hope to welcome the real companies to perform in Vietnam. He said:

“I teach dance composition and choreography; I have taught for nearly forty years and I still teach. For me, this is one more example to tell my students that there is such a company today and they should go and see it. Let me play a part in promoting this artistic achievement.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang shared:

“I’m sure anyone who has been introduced to it longs to see Shen Yun at least once in their life. If by some miracle Shen Yun comes to perform in Vietnam, my children, my family and I will be among the first to go and see it.”

Sharing Ms. Hang’s feeling, many guests at the event on the evening of March 27 expressed their wish to see Shen Yun Performing Arts with their own eyes one day soon, especially in Vietnam:

“This can be said to be a wonderful program because it gives us a new path in art, and that path rests on two important elements: first, aesthetics – beauty; and second, value – wisdom. This content has won over audiences and readers around the world, giving art a new path that must be taken” – Mr. Le Quang Trang – writer, literary critic, former President of the Ho Chi Minh City Writers’ Association and Vice President of the Vietnam Writers’ Association.

“I really hope that Shen Yun will come to Ho Chi Minh City, to Vietnam, so that people like us – who love Chinese culture and art – and the general public have the chance to see it with their own eyes.” – Choreographer and Meritorious Artist Tran Phu

“If Shen Yun has the chance to come to Vietnam, it will be a very lucky occasion for art lovers to enjoy a grand, world-class show of world-famous scale…. I hope that in the near future, Shen Yun can come to Vietnam.” – Actress and film producer Mai Thu Huyen, General Director of Tincom Media

“I’m really looking forward to the company coming to Vietnam so I can go and see it, enjoy it, learn from it and broaden my knowledge. I will introduce it to my family and other art lovers so they can go and see it.” – Tran Hoa Yen, director at VTV9, Vietnam Television.