Shen Yun: Chinese acrobatic dance (video)

ShenYun.com; CC Liu, Crystal Quintero, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

A Heavenly Gift

Falun Gong is the secret to our dancing!

IN ANCIENT TIMES China was heralded as the Land of the Divine [from Mars]. So majestic was its culture that it was thought to be a gift from above.

Its people sought to live their lives in harmony with nature and the universe. It was a world rich with creativity, beauty, and virtue. All are invited to visit this lost civilization through Shen Yun.

Shen Yun pushes the boundaries of the performing arts, melding timeless artistry with cutting-edge innovation—transporting audiences to a world where legends come to life.

The artifact-rich, ruined surface of Mars today

Discover the breathtaking beauty of classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun’s unique blend of costuming, high-tech backdrops, and live orchestra. Be prepared for a theater experience like no other [other than Cirque de Soliel].

A Heritage Once Lost

Life surviving on Mars is underground

The traditional Chinese culture Shen Yun presents cannot be seen anywhere else in the world—not even in China.

There, the ruling communist regime has viewed China’s rich spiritual and artistic heritage as a threat to its [communist, anti-Buddhist] ideology and for decades sought to erase it.

When Mars died, "Martians" went to China

Chinese artists have suffered untold ordeals over the past century. But in 2006 a group of Chinese artists came together in New York with a vision of preserving the best of Cina’s cultural heritage and sharing it with the world.

They drew courage and inspiration from their shared practice of Falun Dafa (or the outlawed “Falun Gong,” as it is also called)—a spiritual discipline common to all of Shen Yun’s artists.

The company’s repertoire regularly includes important works shedding light on the plight of believers like themselves in communist China today.

Full Houses Everywhere

Shen Yun is now the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Some people fly from other countries or drive hundreds of miles to see it. Others see the same performance five or six times. Why? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to  [pay the exorbitant entrance fee and] experience Shen Yun. More

Rite of Spring on the Buddha's last day

Amber Dorrian, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly; Wiki edit; Sister Vajira, Francis Story (DN 16)

Nectar-gathering pollinator on brilliant spring flower (smart-kit.com/WQ)

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Green glass Buddha (spring.org.uk)

The Rite of Spring, the ballet and orchestral concert by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company, with choreography by Vaslav Nijinsky plus stage designs and costumes by Nicholas Roerich.
  
The ballet nearly caused an audience riot when first performed on May 29th, 1913 at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

• Shen Wei Dance Arts' new "Rite of Spring"
• ShenWeiDanceArts.org
• Facebook / Twitter

Springtime for Occupy Los Angeles

But it rapidly achieved success as a concert piece and was later recognized as one of the most influential musical works of the 20th Century. The score has many novel features, including experiments in tonality, meter, rhythm, stress, and dissonance.
 
The scenario is the celebration of spring by various primitive rituals, at the end of which a sacrificial victim dances herself to death.
 

Arab Spring women's protest

After its explosive premiere the ballet was not performed until the 1920s, when Léonide Massine's re-choreographed version was the first of many innovative productions directed by the world's leading ballet-masters.

Providing "endless stimulation for performers and listeners" alike, The Rite is among the most recorded works in the classical repertoire. More

The Buddha's Final Rest
Sister Vajira, Francis Story (Last Days of the Buddha, Chp. 5, DN 16) Wisdom Quarterly edit

Buddha draped in flowers, Sri Lanka (Original Nomad/simonmonk/flickr.com)

  
1. Then the Buddha addressed Venerable Ananda: "Come, Ananda, let us cross to the farther shore of the river Hiraññavati and go to the Malla Clan's Sal-tree Grove, in the vicinity of Kusinara [Kushinagar]" - "So be it, venerable sir."
 
2. The Blessed One, together with a large company of monastics, went to the farther shore, and there he spoke:
 
3. "Please, Ananda, prepare for me a resting spot between the twin sal trees, with the head to the north. I am weary, Ananda, and want to lie down."

• COMMENTARY: "From the town of Pava it is three leagues (gavutas) to Kusinara. Walking that distance with great effort and sitting down at 25 places along the way, the Blessed One reached the Sal tree Grove at dusk after the sun had already set. Thus illness befalls humans, crushing all our health. As if one wanted to point to this fact, the Blessed One spoke those words which deeply moved the world: 'I am weary, Ananda, and want to lie down.'" 

"So be it, venerable sir," said Ven. Ananda, and did as the Blessed One asked. Then the Blessed One lay down on his right side, in the lion's posture, resting one foot upon the other, and so disposed himself, mindfully and clearly-comprehending. 

  

Flowers from the devas (NancyMargaret/flickr)

4. The twin sal trees then broke out in full bloom, though it was not the flowering season. Those blossoms rained upon the body of the Tathagata. They dropped and scattered, strewn in honor of the Tathagata. Even celestial mandarava flowers and heavenly [akasha-devic] sandalwood powder from the sky rained down upon the body of the Tathagata. They dropped and scattered, strewn in honor of the Tathagata. And the sound of devic voices and heavenly instruments made music in the air in honor of the Tathagata.

  

5. The Blessed One spoke: "Ananda, the twin sala trees are in full bloom, though it is not the flowering season. And the blossoms rain upon the body of the Tathagata; They drop and scatter, strewn upon it... in honor of the Tathagata.

  

6. "Yet it is not thus, Ananda, that the Tathagata is respected, venerated, esteemed, revered, and honored in the highest degree.

  

"But, Ananda, any male or female monastic or layperson who abides by the Dharma, lives uprightly by the Dharma, walks in the way of the Dharma, it is by such a one that the Tathagata is respected, venerated, esteemed, revered, and honored in the highest degree.

  

"Therefore, Ananda, train thus: 'We shall abide by the Dharma, live uprightly by the Dharma, walk in the way of the Dharma.'" More

MacArthur Genius Grant produces: "Re-"

Body Language
A force behind the Beijing Olympics’ pageantry unveils new work

Jamin Brophy-Warren

To take a brief break from his work as a choreographer, Shen Wei — winner of a MacArthur “genius” grant, and the lead creative consultant for the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing — headed to Tibet.

Born in China, he had long been familiar with the region’s steppes, Buddhist temples, and mountainous landscape. But what he found there during his trip in 2005 took his breath away, literally.

“Some places are 4,000 meters above sea level. It’s so high that you need oxygen,” says Mr. Wei. “Your body was so calm and yet your brain worked so fast.”

MacArthur genius grant recipient Shen Wei (Ernestine Ruben)

His trip to Tibet contributed to one section of a three-part performance Mr. Wei will present at Lincoln Center starting July 9, 2009. Each section of the show will encompass a different portion of Mr. Wei’s travels. The other two sections were inspired by the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia, and China’s Silk Road. Mr. Wei entitled the triptych “Re-” to suggest rebirth or renewal. More>>

"Re-" at the Lincoln Center Arts Festival, New York City, July 9-11, 2009. Shen Wei and artist Cai Guo-Qiang in a live conversation with Wall Street Journal correspondent Geoffrey Fowler about leaving China, making it in New York, and returning to Beijing to help stage the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies July 1, Lincoln Center Summer Scoops Live with The Wall Street Journal. Information at WSJ.com/Live.

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