Review: Shun Yen Dance Performance

I attended this performance expecting an amazing Chinese cultural extravaganza, with a sprinkling of political messaging  about the persecution of the Falun Dafa religion (aka Falun Gong) in China. I knew that the program was sponsored by Falun Dafa. But what I experienced was something quite different.

Shun Yen had been HEAVILY advertised for months online and off. Tickets were expensive – double the nearest equivalent: Cirque De Soleil, which it was compared to repeatedly in the promotions.  The testimonials in the advertisements were so adoring that unless it really was on the level of Cirque De Soleil, some level of disappointment was inevitable. They must have poured millions into this to build five independent troupes worldwide constantly touring and rehearsing a new show every year. This must be the main propaganda machine of the Falun Dafa religion.

The costumes were stunning, matched to the painted backgrounds – it was quite lovely. And the integration of on-screen action and stage action was amazing. The dancers could dance on the stage, and then step into a projected, seemingly virtual world at the back of the stage. It enabled the performers to move from one world to the other almost seamlessly – quite brilliant. The visuals were the most impressive aspect of the show.

Charming, perfectly executed but there was nothing outstanding. They would have looked like competent amateurs alongside the Bolshoi Ballet. I seriously doubt that this is the best there is in Chinese dance performance. It was much more like a series of often catchy pop songs than a powerful rock opera.

Nothing sophisticated here, but I didn’t come expecting Petrouchka. There were a few hilarious moments, especially from the girl who wanted to keep dancing when she was supposed to finish and her comrades had to carry her off.

The enemy, Chinese Communist Party thugs, were not even two dimensional – closer to one. An enemy with no motive who is simply evil by nature weakens a story, making it impossible to identify with the villains, and therefore harder to empathize with the protagonists. This effort failed at storytelling 101.

Unremarkable. Not a single melody caught my attention. And the opera singer was dire. See below.

The messaging was heavy handed, dogmatic and at times laughable. Hardly a fit for the sophisticated, non-religious UC Berkeley audience.

It started off light with a scenes of heaven and meditation and a story about a soldier who renounced war to become a monk. All quite charming and fun. But as we progressed further into the show, first the politics and then the religion were slathered on ever thicker.

This began with a heavy piece showing Falun Dafa youths being beaten and arrested, tortured and blinded by communist goons. From what I’ve heard, it is quite possible that in reality Falun Dafa followers have faced this kind of treatment and probably worse, so I had no argument with the truth of their political plight. It was the fundamentalist religious wrapping that offended me.

Then Buddha appeared and blessed the devoted followers of Falun Dafa and that story ended happily. We were now drifting out of the realm of meditation and some traditional ideas about Buddha and heaven, into ‘Buddha saving his persecuted followers’ territory.

This escalated to a moment of extraordinary direness in an operatic performance. The lyrics were translated on screen. The singer praised the creator and went on about heaven for a while. Then he sang to us with overblown earnestness about how corrupting modern life is and how we should not fall prey to the delusions of atheism and evolution (I’m not making this up) but should follow the teachings of Falun Dafa. Only by following the teachings of a Falun Dafa teacher can we get to heaven. It really said that. I was so embarrassed I didn’t know where to look. The song wasn’t much good either.

In the last scene some kind of deity appears and destroys the corrupt worldly communists by conjuring up a cataclysm. I felt that I’d been magically transported, not into some delightful Chinese flower filled heaven, but into the Buddhist equivalent of Christian apocalyptic nonsense.

I could only laugh when the persecuted religious devout dancers held up a naive little banner saying, “Falun Dafa is Good”.

Clearly Falun Dafa is suppressed in China, probably more brutally than this entertainment piece cares to depict. The real situation seems seriously grim. There are claims of mass executions for the purpose of organ harvesting! But of course reference to something that barbaric might have spoiled the vibe of a pleasant evening. I fear that the utterly nuance-free religious fanaticism might only have served to undermine the trust and sympathy of the audience. If had not known from other sources of Falun Dafa’s persecution this performance would have left me thinking they were exaggerating.

The repeated claim that you ‘can’t see this kind of dance in China’ seems dubious. I’m sure that is true that you can’t see religious fanaticism and anti-government propaganda but I really doubt that traditional Chinese dance is banned in China.

Shun Yen looks to me like a misguided attempt to gain public sympathy for the persecuted sect of Falun Dafa. This, on its own, would be a difficult target to miss. But by simultaneously trying to ram their religious teachings down the throats of the audience I fear they seized defeat from the jaws of victory.

I wondered how the Falun Dafa producers could be so naive as to think their religious dogma might appeal to this audience. Two possibilities come to mind.

1. Their actual target audience is overseas Chinese, not white guys like me. I imagine that is where much of their funding comes from. They probably get a ton of money from Taiwanese anti-communist sympathizers. But I wonder if the unsubtle religious message held much appeal for the American born Chinese.
2. They have this massive blind spot with no understanding of the psychology or intellectual norms amongst non-Chinese or even Chinese outside China. After all, they hardly have a monopoly on ‘total lack of self-awareness due to religious dogma’. How else could they speak to an audience on campus at UC Berkeley, one of the most liberal, intellectual institutions in the USA, condemning evolution and telling them that the only way to heaven is to follow Falun Dafa, and that ‘Falun Dafa is Good’! I’m guessing that the only reason they were not laughed off the stage is because a Berkeley audience does not want to  look culturally insensitive or unsympathetic to Falun Dafa’s un-debated political plight.

I went into the Shun Yen dance performance with sympathy for the Falun Dafa political cause. I came out with a clearer understanding of why the Chinese Government finds them as irritating as hell.

Nevertheless, it does seem like massive overkill to imprison and torture people just because they annoy you.