(Clearwisdom.net) University of Hawaii Chancellor: "Absolutely beautiful!"

Ms. Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, was very impressed with Shen Yun Performing Arts after seeing it for the first time at the Blaisdell Concert Hall on March 31, 2009. "I think it was absolutely beautiful," said Ms. Hinshaw. She felt that Shen Yun had "Absolutely beautiful colors, I thought it was fantastic!" "I have visited China twice. They performed, but not at this level. I haven't seen this level of presentation."

Ms. Virginia Hinshaw, chancellor of the University of Hawaii at Manoa

Ms. Hinshaw continued that Shen Yun, "...showed me a lot of diversity, talents, and themes through dance ... beautifully artistic." She added, "It is very informative, it was modern and yet old, very interesting combination, all the different types of presentations."

She noticed that one particularly moving piece, one with a child, told about, "...the wrong and sad things that happen in life." Ms. Hinshaw was referring to "Heaven Awaits Us Despite Persecution," which tells the contemporary story of one family torn apart by the unjust persecution of Falun Dafa taking place in China.

Ms. Hinshaw said that she enjoyed the music and the vocalists, "They were lovely. I think they did not need a mic because they have such powerful voices. They were wonderful, I thought it was very enchanting. We have much to learn. But in Hawaii we are very fortunate to have a large Chinese population."

At the VIP reception she said, "Your performance was fantastic. It was beautiful both to the ear and eye, and told stories that we could understand and appreciate."

"We are so blessed in Hawaii to have many different cultures, but certainly a very strong Chinese culture and community here. And we are very blessed and grateful for that, proud that you're here to share your talents with us and educate us."

"As a person at the University of Hawaii, I really appreciate the opportunity to learn, and I think everybody tonight learned, and they also enjoyed. Your performance refreshed our souls and helped us understand more about the Chinese culture. I have always thought that music and dance are international languages. And tonight we got to speak the same language together."

Mr. Paxton, the Music Department chair at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, spoke after University Chancellor Ms. Hinshaw, about Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Mr. Paxton, the Music Department chair at the University of Hawaii at Manoa

"I strongly feel that art, and of course my representation of music, but all art-dance, music, performing arts and theater, these are the tools that get us through these hard times," he said.

He said he appreciated seeing the show, "And thank you for giving me three hours of forgetting . . . and for having three hours of just losing myself into what my chancellor [referred to] as, 'refreshing the soul.'"

"Art is the most important thing we have. It does cross the barriers that culture divides. I'm proud to be an artist and I was proud to be here. And I will send all my students tomorrow. Thank you so much."

Ms. Lewis, director of Research Program at the East-West Center, expressed her appreciation at the VIP reception after the show.

Ms. Lewis, director of Research Program at the East-West Center

"It's a great pleasure to be here tonight and a really spectacular performance. I am not a performer and you would not want to hear me sing." "But I can bring greetings from the East-West Center, it's a companion institution to the University of Hawaii. It's a real pleasure to be here tonight and thank you so much to the performers! You were spectacular. The choreography, the songs, the costumes were just unbelievable ... Mahalo!"

Ms. Lewis mentioned that she had spent some time in China, but that she didn't know a great deal about classical Chinese culture. She greatly appreciated seeing Shen Yun, "I appreciated the Chinese lore that was brought into the show."

She added that seeing the show gave her a greater appreciation of traditional Chinese culture.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14588/
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