San Francisco: Human Rights Advocate Admires Shen Yun (Photos)

(Clearwisdom.net) Audience members gave a warm and enthusiastic welcome to Shen Yun Performing Arts Company at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, California, on July 23-25, 2010.

Giovanni Vassallo, an executive coordinator at UCSF, is also the president of Bay Area Friends of Tibet.

Among the many delighted guests in the audience was Giovanni Vassallo, president of Bay Area Friends of Tibet and executive coordinator at the University of California, San Francisco.

His main mission over the past 10 years, has been to educate people about the gross violations of human rights taking place in Tibet and to support Tibetan culture and the idea of freedom in both Tibet and China.

Regarding the dance set, “Tibetan Dance of Praise,” Mr. Vassallo said: "I liked it very much. I liked the mountain scenes. Tibet is a beautiful land with its snow-capped mountains, and so I really enjoyed the performance and seeing the Tibetans in a happy relationship with the Chinese people.

“And I really enjoyed seeing the different ethnic groups presented here today, at the show, because it describes a dream of what it would be like to see in the Tibetan region, that is, Chinese and Tibetans working together as one nice, happy family."

Giovanni spoke a little about why he enjoyed the show. “The acrobatics are amazing, the colorful costumes are really visually arresting, and of course the story--I really enjoyed it!” he said.

He said he felt an intimate connection to the dance set portraying the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in contemporary China.

“Of course, I felt a lot of connection with the part that focused on the Falun Dafa persecution, because these kinds of things are also happening in Tibet, as well," he explained.

He brought up the fact that the Chinese communist regime is still "doing these things, the same kind of persecution things even to their own people; so you sort of realize the larger problem we are facing."

Giovanni went on to say that he thoroughly enjoyed the last dance set, “The Buddha's Teachings Spread Far and Wide.”

"Without the truth, we are living a lie, that is, we are not dealing with genuine facts, or the genuine article. So we want the real truth―the actual truth―to flourish and spread widely. That’s why I think, I liked that performance the most," he ended.

Shen Yun an Informative Show

Sebastian and Sue Gonzalez

Also in the audience were Sebastian Gonzalez, a consulting manager, and his wife Sue, originally from Taiwan.

“I like it very much,” Mr. Gonzalez said. “There is this one part in the show where they talk about what is happening in China [“Nothing Can Block the Divine Path”].

“I feel very sorry, because a lot of people do not know about [the persecution of Falun Gong], especially Americans.”

He continued, “I know about Tiananmen Square and everything else. It’s very unfortunate. If the truth is known in the world, the world will be much better. The Chinese people deserve freedom.”

Overall, he thought the show was “Very nice, very pleasing and very informative. Beautiful dancing, beautiful environment. Very nice performance, very good orchestra, very nice.”

“My wife is part Chinese. We love Chinese culture and China´s five thousand years of civilization. We want to know more about it so that’s why we came,” concluded Mr. Gonzalez.

Source:

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39784/
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39790/