Audience Members from Utah's Academic Community Express Appreciation for Shen Yun: 'A Message of Hope!' (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) Paul Hyer, professor emeritus of Chinese history at Brigham Young University attended Shen Yun's Ogden show with his wife, Karen Hyer, also a professor at Brigham Young University. They traveled up from Provo, Utah, for Shen Yun Performing Arts' March 18 performance at Peery's Egyptian Theater. The artists were honored with standing ovations and curtains calls from the enthusiastic audience.

Professor Hyer joined the enthusiastic audience in the full theater and said, "Wonderful! A lot of great talent. Wonderful talent, and apparently it's very popular--many people have come."

Paul Hyer, professor emeritus of Chinese history at Brigham Young University attended Shen Yun's Ogden show with his wife, Karen Hyer, also a professor at Brigham Young University.

Referring to the dance performances he said, "They're all so very good." He said he thought it was an excellent display for "Americans here to see Chinese dance and music."

Mr. Hyer, who spent more than 14 years living in Asia, founded the Asian Studies program at Brigham Young University in 1960. Much of those 14 years he spent in China where he taught at five Chinese Universities. He also lived in Taiwan for several years.

In addition to enjoying the dance performances, Mr. Hyer also appreciated the content of the songs performed by the vocalists, There is Hope, sung by soprano Chia-ning Hsu and Lighting the Way, performed by tenor Guan Guimin.

He was greatly touched and said the words were excellent. "Beautiful ideas there--about what life is like and how life can be difficult, but we have to have hope and try to improve ourselves."

There was a "message of hope and the beauty of life," Mr. Hyer said.

"Beautiful voices, very nice," said Mrs. Hyer. She also taught at several universities in China, including teaching law in Beijing. She now teaches sociology at Brigham Young University.

Mrs. Hyer said she could hear the Western instruments and the ancient Chinese instruments in the live orchestra. "It's beautiful music," she remarked.

She said she enjoyed Shen Yun. "It's just very good. ... each motion tells a story."

Mr. Hyer said he would recommend Shen Yun to others. "Everybody would appreciate the music and the dance. We could recommend it to everyone."

Shen Yun Performances 'Eye Opening'

Joining the highly enthusiastic audience was Richard Hill, a university lawyer, and Professor Hoying, a professor of sociology, who said they were glad they had made the effort to see Shen Yun and were full of praise.

"It's very good," said Professor Hoying. "It's the first time I had heard of it ... very informative."

Richard Hill, a university lawyer, and Prof. Hoying, a professor of sociology, were glad they had made the effort to see Shen Yun.

"I enjoyed it very much," said Mr. Hill, "this was very high quality."

Mr. Hill said he found the costumes "fascinating" but it was the music that had intrigued him most.

"I particularly enjoyed the music--the combination of the Chinese instruments with the Western instruments," he said, adding "and the scoring was very, very interesting."

Professor Hoying said she was of Chinese heritage so she was already familiar with the stories, having read them "many, many times." But how those stories had been transformed into dance had been "amazing, very new, eye-opening."

"It's very amazing, they can actually transform a story on a stage. Like, I could never imagine that Wu Song Battles the Tiger could be put on the stage," she said.

"I think the body language actually transformed that message very well so I'm amazed."

Professor Hoying said that her experiences learning some of the ethnic dances from Mongolia, Tibet and also some Uighur dances enabled her to recognize the high quality of the Shen Yun performances.
"It's very authentic," she said.

Source:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/31726/

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/31714/