Meet Shen Yun Principal Dancer Luna Yu

What does it take to lift one’s leg as easily as an arm? How do you remain perfectly balanced and composed?  “If you want to improve your extensions, you have to focus on your goals. Be diligent and never give up,” Shen Yun’s rising star Luna Yu says. “I guess it’s the same for anything in life, too. Inch by inch—that’s how we achieve the remarkable. ‘Grain of rice by grain of rice’ is how one of our senior instructors used to put it—though it sounds more profound in Chinese!” In classical Chinese dance, extensions fall under the control, or kong-zhi (控制), category. Kong-zhi encompasses a wide range of techniques and poses that require flexibility, strength, and, of course, impeccable control.