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Former University President: 'We're enjoying it tremendously' (Photos)

January 02, 2010 |  

(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts preformed at the prestigious San Diego Civic Theatre on December 30. The audience was delighted with the experience.

Dr. Arthur Hughes, President Emeritus of the University of San Diego, and his wife

Dr. Arthur Hughes, a retired president of the University of San Diego, and his wife, had no idea what to expect from this New York-based depiction of 5000-year-old traditional Chinese culture. Dr. Hughes is a President Emeritus, an honorary title for the rank of the last office he held as president of the University of San Diego from 1971 until June 1995.

They were very pleased with many of the performance's aspects.

Dr. Hughes said, "We're enjoying it tremendously".

"Musically it's a wonderful blend of Chinese music and Western music. It's very appealing... And the dance of course is marvelous, beautifully trained, [the] dances are well executed, it's really perfect.

The colors of the costumes also caught Dr. Hughes attention, "Beautifully done ... the colors, the excitement of the dances, wonderful combination."

Dr. Hughes was unfamiliar with Chinese culture or beliefs, he felt Shen Yun gave him an insight into this and also educated him about the present day persecution of Falun Gong in China.

"It's very enjoyable and something that gives us an insight into the depth of that belief. ... I had to wonder as I watched and heard that: is this performed in China at all?" said Dr. Hughes.

Mrs. Hughes was also impressed with Shen Yun. She added, "The tenor: he was phenomenal indeed. Well, so [were] the soprano and the baritone." Then commenting on the performance as a whole, "And their costumes were so glorious--the colors, the whole show--it's really put together magnificently.

"Lawyer: 'The artists are a very spectacular group of people'

Mr. Gordon, a lawyer, was delighted that he was able to see this world class show. "The program was wonderful and they are spectacular and different than anything that I have ever seen," he said. "The costumes, the dance, the dancers who were in it, the number of artists involved, it's obvious that the artists are a very spectacular group of people."

Curtain call at the San Diego Civic Theatre on Dec. 30

The tonal quality by an orchestra that embraced both Eastern and Western instruments pleased the ears of the audience. "The music was unusual but also very appealing," said Mr. Gordon.

Shen Yun brings ancient tales of heroism and modern tales of courage to the world's audience, sprinkled with joyous ethnic tales and folklore.

"I did not know anything about this show and almost did not come, but I saw someone at the mall selling tickets, and I wanted to see what it was like, and I watched the short version on television. It looked very appealing. Coming to see this show was even better than what I saw on the video," shared Mr. Gordon.

Then before leaving he added a last thought, "all the dancing and even the voices of the soloist are really quite nice."

Educators: The Dancers 'just seemed like they were floating'

Educators and child care providers Ms. Banke and Ms. Lopez had also come to see the renowned Shen Yun Performing Arts show.

"It was beautiful and I think the way they ascended into the heavens was really fabulous," said Ms. Banke.

"It's just so beautiful, it was very, very beautiful," said an amazed Ms. Lopez. She added, "the costumes were very beautiful too."

Ms. Banke continued the thought, "and we liked the way the girls floated, it looked like they were floating. When they are walking, they did not walk. It just seemed like they were floating, and the clouds, when they did the cloud dance...that was really very nice, it was beautiful.

"The soprano, she was beautiful and I loved the way she sang. ... the tenor he was very beautiful."

Similar to many others in the audience, these two ladies were amazed by the Chinese two-string instrument's, the erhu's tonality. "I thought that was so fascinating [the erhu performance]. It looked like she could just move her fingers and she was just making music with her fingers." said Ms. Banke.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27257/ and

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27267/