One of the world’s premier music and dance groups brings back to life an ancient culture that was nearly lost. This weekend, the spectacular show stops over in Nice.

It is still early in the year but it is safe to say that on March 30 and 31, Nice will experience one of the 2019 cultural highlights: Shen Yun, the international phenomenon consisting of the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops, takes the audience on a journey through five millennia of Chinese culture. Music, dance, animations, light effects, costumes, and storytelling all weave a tapestry of heavenly realms, ancient legends, and modern heroic tales to create one spectacular performance.

The traditional Chinese culture Shen Yun presents cannot be experienced 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 ideology and for decades tried to erase it.

But in 2006, a group of Chinese artists came together in New York with a vision: to revive the best of China’s cultural heritage and share it with the world. Using the artistic freedom the Big Apple allowed them, they drew courage and inspiration from their practice of Falun Dafa – a spiritual discipline based on the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. The company’s repertoire includes important works shedding light on the plight of people like them in communist China today.

Chinese dance with its incredible flips and spins, and its gentle elegance, is one of the most rigorous and expressive art forms in the world. Shen Yun – meaning “Heavenly Gift” – narrates 5,000 years of culture and history through classical, folk, ethnic and story-based dance, accompanied by the Shen Yun orchestra. Here, spirit beauty and distinctiveness of Chinese music meets with the precision, power, and grandeur of Western symphony. The result – two great traditions producing one refreshing sound.

Drawing top talent from around the world – many of them award-winning artists – Shen Yun now travels around the globe during 6 months every year, performing in some 20 countries and 100 cities to sold-out audiences everywhere to share the wonders of ancient Chinese culture with millions across the globe.

The two shows at the Acropolis in Nice are almost sold out, with only a handful of tickets left. But on this current world tour, there is also a chance to catch Shen Yun in Aix-en-Provence from April 2-6 or in Paris from May 8-12. Otherwise you may have to wait until next year, when the act comes back on the French Riviera in its annual stopover on the Côte. And in the meantime, wander around their website, packed to the gills with fascinating information on Chinese culture, history, and the back stories to this phenomenal show.

Lead image courtesy Shen Yun Performing Arts