Chinese dance in London
With the coming of Chinese new year, there will be many different processions and dances that will be seen in many of our cities. The parades in London, Manchester and Birmingham will dwarf many attractions but how many will come to the Barbican in London to see a dancing extravaganza, that in a short space of time, has built a world-wide following?
Shen Yun is an unusual Chinese dancing troupe in that they they were conceived and are based in the US. Their aim is to revive Chinese culture and claim that you cannot see a show like theirs anywhere in China.
Their work is a combination of dance, animated backdrops and an orchestra that combines Chinese and other Asian instruments with western ones. Thy talk of reviving 5,000 years of civilisation so are you seeing something genuinely Chinese or a modern, loose interpretation designed to compete with other music and dance attractions like the Riverdance phenomenon? It has to be the latter but does it matter? Probably only to purists. What Shen Yun has developed is a theatrical extravaganza that has sold-out signs placed outside theatres across the world.
Shen Yun is at The Barbican in London from just the 5-9th of March. At the moment they aren’t sold out. If you are interested and wait too long to book, they may be.
Image © Shen Yun
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