(Clearwisdom.net) Costa Hall in Geelong, Australia, was abuzz on Friday night, April 3, as Shen Yun Performing Arts debuted in the Victorian coastal city. The modern auditorium sits just off Geelong's renowned waterfront and is considered a feat of architecture and engineering.

Geelong Mayor: An inspiring show

Geelong, which lies 75 kilometers south of Victoria's capital, Melbourne, is Australia's largest regional municipality. John Mitchell, the mayor of Geelong, felt his eyes had been opened to traditional Chinese culture when he saw Shen Yun.

Mr. John Mitchell, the mayor of Geelong, attended the show with his wife

"It was a very good show; it was an inspiring show. To see a different culture and to see it performed on stage was fantastic. I really enjoyed it. I know it's a culture that is old and steeped in history, and that sparkeled tonight. It was very good," he said.

As mayor, Mr. Mitchell presides over 234,000 residents and 10,000 businesses. Born and raised in the area, Mr. Mitchell has lived in Geelong for more than 40 years.

"It's not something I'm familiar with. It looked as though it was divine, it sort of looked spiritual ... it's hard to explain," he said.

"It was something that kept you alert. I mean, it's nearly 11 o'clock, way past my bedtime, but it kept me on the edge of my seat all night!"

Mr. Mitchell said the whole performance was "very expressive. The costuming was terrific, the backdrops were all good, and the scenery was, too.

"The surprise was the way the dancers seemed to float through the air. There was no effort in anything they did. ... It looked difficult, but it didn't seem difficult. It just seemed natural for them to do what they were doing. The last act ["Knowing the True Picture Offers Ultimate Hope"] was very, very moving, relevant to today's times. It was very good."

When told that Shen Yun was continuing on to Sydney he said, "I would recommend it to anyone in Sydney to go see it, and I'm sure that this show will play to a packed house, the same as it has tonight. Terrific. Well worth seeing."

Ms. Hann, a teacher and photographer, is Chinese on her mother's side. She said that she thought the show was captivating because it "was so gentle and soothing and really energetic at the same time."

Ms. Hann, a teacher and photographer

"It was beautiful; it was just stunning. I loved the colors, and I just loved the philosophy behind what they believed. I also loved the music and how it always told a story, too. It was beautiful."

Some of the stories depict the current situation in China. Ms. Hann spoke of "Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution," in which a young girl must say goodbye to her father, who is persecuted to death for his adherence to the traditional beliefs within Falun Dafa. China's communist regime currently persecutes practitioners of Falun Dafa.

Ms. Hann was touched by story. She said, "I'm just very connected with children and seeing the bond that the father and daughter had, even though it was through dance, you could tell they had emotion in it as well, which is rare in dance. It was beautiful. It just ...struck an emotional chord, and that's why I liked that particular performance especially."

Ms. Hann also mentioned other pieces she enjoyed. "The drumming and the silk rhythms were stunning ... the men with the little hand drums. It was one of my favorites because they made it really funny as well. They had funny facial expressions. I really enjoyed it."

She said, "It was a good mix--every piece was totally different from the next."

Mr. and Mrs. Minahan, local Geelong residents, also attended the show. Mrs. Minahan said the show was "Wonderful. Beautiful. Absolutely superb, absolutely superb. Ah, the delicacy of it all. The women were like magnificent fairies, and they are so agile and the men were so peaceful, just beautiful. The women floated on the stage. Stunning, it really was."

She said, "In one sense, the innocence of it all, but also, I suppose, the wisdom of it all. It's quite profound when you think about the philosophy behind it, it's quite timeless."

She took "Monk Ji Gong Abducts the Bride" as an example: "The prophet predicting the earth tremor, and just the whole way it was put together. There was almost [an] innocence and honesty about it. You know, in the West, we put a cynical spin on everything, [but Shen Yun] is so pure. There are no tricks, there are no little tricks anywhere." She said that Chinese philosophy is both sensible and brilliant.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14732/
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