(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts brought the San Diego Civic Theatre alive with the sights and sounds of ancient China on Monday, December 28.

Mr. Pollard, a music arranger said, "I think it was beautiful and well done." He was aware that the orchestra combined both Chinese and Western instruments, and played original music. "We heard the pieces and it's very true to the form of dance ... We're glad that the instruments and the pieces are authentic," he said.

Mr. and Mrs. Pollard after Shen Yun's Monday evening performance in San Deigo

Mr. Pollard appreciated the philosophical and spiritual messages in some of the performances. "I enjoyed the plot of the story, or learning about some of the cultural beliefs systems."

"I like the introduction of the philosophies and spiritual concepts of reincarnation and it seems that they're using that element of spirituality, which adds to [the] physical beauty of the set up in the music as well."

He had not previously heard of the persecution and torture of Falun Dafa in present day China. He spoke of the performance depicting a mother being harmed while protecting her child from the police. He was interested in learning more, "I still don't get the part about where the woman and the child... that was supposed to be modern-day China, was it not?"

Mrs. Pollard, an attorney, loved the beauty of the performances. "It's fabulous. It's just beautiful, [I was] very much enjoying it," she said

"My wife enjoys the beauty of it and the music and the dance and costumes, but me, I was more interested in the philosophical spiritual presentation," Mr. Pollard said.

Physics Professor: "Eye-poppingly beautiful"

Among the delighted audience was Dr. Norman, a distinguished professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego.

"I didn't really know what to expect, but it's just beautiful ... It's introducing me to a lot of different aspects of Chinese culture and history," he said.

"Eye-poppingly beautiful. ... Brightest, most beautiful colors that I think I've seen on stage."

Dr. Norman, professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego

Dr. Norman is a pioneer in using advanced computational methods to explore the universe and its beginnings, so he is very interested in the spiritual and philosophical aspects of the performance.

"The spiritual dimension is not something that I expected. I find that very interesting," he said.

"I don't know too much about the culture. I've had a number of Chinese graduate students over the years, so I've been exposed to Chinese people, but I really didn't know too much about this spiritual dimension."

He particularly liked Wu Song Battles the Tiger, saying, "I liked the drunk fellow who went and fought the tiger. I thought that was a very creative dance."

Dr. Norman appreciated the singers and how the words were displayed on the screen. He said, "I understand those songs as the message of people who have been oppressed for centuries, if not thousands of years. Oppressed by way of not being able to express their religious beliefs."

Dr. Norman brought his family to see Shen Yun tonight and said he would definitely recommend it to others.

"I think they [my children] are enjoying it."

Shen Yun "Graceful, beautiful, educational"

Among the audience on Monday was Mr. Hinrichsen, a retired business administrator, and his wife, a motivational speaker and author.

Mr. Hinrichsen said the show was very educational. "The talent was great. Oh, it was all very impressive. The skill of the performers was great. All the singers were good."

Mr. and Mrs. Hinrichsen at the San Diego Civic Theatre Monday evening

Shen Yun performances include dramatizations of ancient Chinese legends as well as modern tales of courage, including the persecution of Falun Dafa, a spiritual discipline, in China. "I think that the people that want to believe in this faith are being repressed in China and it's a shame. It's unfortunate."

Like her husband, Mrs. Hinrichsen also enjoyed the show. "I thought it was exceptionally pretty," she said. "I liked how everyone flowed so wonderfully together." She noticed that, despite the large number of dancers, "everyone was in sync." She added that the show was "very graceful, beautiful, [and] educational."

"The religious persecution [dance] came through the strongest"

Another in the audience at Monday evening's performance was Mr. Lajoie, who works in management at a software company.

During the intermission, he expressed his feelings about the show: "So far, very, very interesting. I enjoyed it tremendously. I didn't think it was going to be quite so much in the way of color."

"I think the religious persecution came through the strongest so far, and the idea that your freedoms are still quite in question."

Mr. Lajoie thought that the dances were giving a realization to a lot of people in the world that there is still strife to be overcome and that this is a way to bring it to their attention.

He also felt that the music became melded with the movements of the dance, all becoming a single entity. "I've enjoyed tremendously the grace with which the dancers are performing--phenomenal."

Source:
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27130/
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