It’s the show the world loves and Beijing fears.
Using classical Chinese, folk, and ethnic dances, as well as solo musical performances, Shen Yun takes the audience through China’s dynasties and legends, while also raising awareness for the ongoing human rights challenges in present-day China.
Many Shen Yun performers practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a peaceful meditation exercise that has been heavily persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since 1999.
Shen Yun will once again tour Australia in February and March, with Queenslander and Master of Ceremonies Oliver Perrett at the helm.
It is Perrett’s 12th year with the show and second time accompanying it to Australia.
“It’s great to be back home. We just came from Korea, which is a much colder climate, so I’m looking forward to the great Australian weather and to sharing our new program with Aussies, with the locals,” he told New Tang Dynasty Television [NTD], sister media to The Epoch Times.
“Every year we have a completely new program, new choreography, and new music because our source material is so vast from China’s 5000 years of traditional culture, also including the many different ethnic groups and folk traditions in China.
“So our source material is very vast and very rich, so we’re able to create a vibrant show every year that’s very different.”
Perrett says it is the spiritual essence of culture in Shen Yun that speaks to the “divine spark” in audiences.
“Everyone has that longing for a connection with the divine, and traditional culture is able to give that to people, and I think that’s something very special and why audiences are so moved when they see the show,” he said.
The Shen Yun crew is like family, spending six months a year together as they actively revive traditional, spiritual art.
“I hope (audiences) will be very inspired by the new program—that it enriches their lives—and that they can better appreciate our mission to revive the traditional culture that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has attempted to destroy,” Perrett said.
Giving Hope to the World
Shen Yun performer Alvin Song has been to Australia around half a dozen times, and says he’s excited to share the message of Shen Yun with audience members.
“Shen Yun can give hope to people and I think that’s a very big thing, especially in this kind of culture we live in now where it’s very fast-paced, a lot of digital shorts, a lot of TikTok, a lot of things that don’t really provide much deeper meaning to people-but Shen Yun can provide this kind of joy to people and I think that’s very meaningful,” he said.
As a performer, Song’s routine includes self-discipline coupled with the joy of inspiring others with the show.
“I think the message is always the same each year, but I think the quality is getting much better,” he said.
“I think the message is one of hope, that there’s more to life than we can see, and I think that’s why many audience members leave the show with a newfound sense of hope for the future.”
Shen Yun will run from Feb. 25 to March 29 across Australian states.
