Linh Do

Happy National Dance Day!

What if every movement could tell a story?

Classical Chinese dance is so much more than just flips, jumps, and techniques. There’s 5,000 years of history behind every expression, and even the smallest gesture has a story to tell.

Find out what makes this art form so unique: https://sypa.us/SYCCD

At Mid-Autumn, the full moon rises over a misty landscape.
Beneath the green mountains, maidens dance with carefree elegance, their flowing fans casting shadows in the moonlight.

Autumn fills the air, and the moon speaks of home.
Tonight, the sweet flute and zither accompany the resplendent power of the drums. United in spirit, the divine land is once more lit up in glory.

Some of the most decisive moments in Journey to the West belong to a figure who isn't one of the travelers.

Bodhisattva Guan Yin is the goddess of compassion, and her legends in China reach back more than two thousand years. Her story has also found its way onto the Shen Yun stage, where deities and legendary figures from traditional Chinese culture are brought to life through classical Chinese dance.

The pilgrimage to the West begins with her. She determined that the sacred Buddhist scriptures should be brought to the East and chose a humble monk for the task.

But she doesn't send the monk alone, because the journey is a treacherous one. She assembles a ragtag team of guards to accompany him: a magical monkey, a pig man, and an ogre. Their task is to protect the monk, but she also intends for them to advance along their own spiritual paths, so they can eventually return to their positions in the heavens.

At the points where the travelers' own powers run out, it is Guan Yin who arrives with a way forward.

Her role is not simply to rescue the travelers. She guides them through the trials that will ultimately transform them.

Learn more: https://sypa.us/4rdsVlr

This folk dance, called yangge, or “rice sprout song,” comes from Shandong province.
Often associated with rural festivities, this boisterous dance is filled with moves symbolizing wine drinking, beard stroking, and bride carrying (in a poled sedan chair on four men’s shoulders).

Music for the Royal Fireworks was composed by the German-born British composer George Frideric Handel, a master of the Baroque era.
Commissioned by King George II after the War of the Austrian Succession, it premiered in London in 1749 during a celebratory fireworks display.

This retelling of a classic legend depicts the origins of the moon goddess Chang’E.
Her husband Hou Yi is an archer of admirable skill, and together the couple lives peacefully.
But soon, a group of fairies accidentally brings the attention of a wicked red dragon to their village.