"Every individual is empowered through choice," the Shen Yun hosts explain, introducing a scene in which hip-hop punks find redemption in a ruined Buddhist temple. With the Beijing Olympics looming, this will be a year of Chinese art in Britain, with exchanges and collaborations. Shen Yun isn't in this category. The production company, Divine Arts, is based in New York, and in tone the show could be a Californian self-help manual.
There's a creepy edge to this celebration of Chinese traditional art. The dances go from bland to pretty, with lines of dancers fluttering sleeves or posing in front of digital backdrops. Many numbers have a lurking evangelical air, offering crass solutions for China's human-rights abuses.
Two bilingual hosts introduce each number with groaningly unspontaneous comedy routines, and the dramatic scenes are just as clunking. Nobody can act, and costumes are extravagant but the fabrics move like polyester. Indeed, much of Shen Yun is tacky. It becomes something worse when it tries to address serious political issues.
(Independent, March 2008)
