(Clearwisdom.net) The Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour performed three shows at the ASU Gammage Theater in Phoenix, Arizona on March 27-28, 2009.

Stuart Thomas, host of the "World Harmony: Can It Happen?" talk show in Tucson, was moved to tears after watching the show. "It's wonderful and it's marvelous. It's an introduction to some of the foundational aspects of the Chinese culture. It's incredible."

Mr. Stuart Thomas, host of the "World Harmony: Can It Happen?" talk show in Tucson

Mr. Thomas could not hold back his tears as he described his reaction to the piece that depicts the persecution of Falun Gong in China. "It's hard for what's going on for the Falun Gong. I am so sorry about it. And I tried to expose [the persecution] in my show, so hopefully to put some pressure to get the persecution to be eliminated. So I cried. I'm crying even in my recollection. I mean it's so hard. It was so sad. I was moved by it.

"Falun Dafa is to be respected, hugely respected ... here or anywhere in the whole world. Their attributes, what they want is so honorable. In fact, I question why anyone would want to persecute anyone with such wonderful thinking as they do."

Mr. Thomas was also impressed by the dancers' technique and precision. "The agility of the dancers, they were able to spin and spin, spin, spin and not lose their balance. That's incredible. It's an eye-opening experience to see this aspect of Chinese culture in classical form."

Professor emeritus Hall was impressed by Shen Yun Performing Arts. "I am actually using science and civilization in China as the opening part of my book to show that different cultures approach science and civilization very differently," he said.

Professor Hall

"I think there are a couple of things that I will go back and recheck that I have already written. I think it gives you a visual feeling of something that you just had in your head."

"I think I was impressed with the fact that the only way that this could be put on is the fact that it's outside of China. Having that in the background makes it very much impressive. Even if your home country ... makes it difficult for you, you can still express yourself in other parts of the world and hopefully get other people to appreciate your message and help to make changes."

The professor was impressed with the effects and backdrop. "I expected there would just be dancers and drums on stage. I hadn't expected there to be a lot of other visual effects that went with it. That's very impressive."

He said, "I think the color and the integration of the dances was most impressive--the piece of the opening of the flower, for example. Even without the picture of the flower in the background, you really had the impression that this [dance] was a flower opening, and the way it was evoked, it was very, very good." He referred "The Udumbara's Bloom."

He found the costumes "very impressive," and he said that what impressed him the most was "the expressiveness of the hands and the things that are held in the hands, like the fans. The use of the fans and the way the fans turned into flowers at the end was very impressive."

Retired company president Mr. Bob Frank and his wife Beverley were very enthusiastic about the Shen Yun performance.

Retired company president Mr. Bob Frank and his wife

"We went to many, many Broadway shows," explained Mr. Frank. "We have been to theater performances. We've been to the opera. This was a fantastic show. Everyone should come and see it. This is absolutely first class entertainment, it is phenomenal entertainment, it's wonderful, it's everything."

Mr. Frank ended by saying, "It was great. Thank you very much."

Ms. Bhavani Debi, an artist and photographer who attended the show with Randall Harrison, a jeweller, said that she was inspired by the performance. "I paint Buddhas and Chinese calligraphy, so this is very inspirational. I love the colors and the costumes. It's given me a lot of inspiration for my artwork."

Mr. Harrison added that he thought the show was "profoundly powerful and beautiful in the extreme."

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/14437/
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