(Clearwisdom.net) On Saturday January 16, the audience at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium at Progress Energy Center, in North Carolina, was delighted by Shen Yun's performance. Many from the arts community attended and shared their thoughts.

Songwriter and Medical Doctor Calls Shen Yun Show an 'Eye Opener'

Mr. Oldfield learned new things about China's ethnic groups

Dan Oldfield, a Western medical doctor and songwriter, flew from Los Angeles to Raleigh to visit friends. Although he had been up since 4 a.m., he thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun. His rich background has given him a unique appreciation and a close affinity with China and its people. Dan is a Western medical doctor by training and has spent the last 30 years practicing alternative medicine. He is also a songwriter and was a co-producer who helped bring the first American musical concert to China. The concert was called the United Airlines Friendship Concert and played in China on Dec. 3, 1986, according to Dan.

"I have been to China twenty times and I saw people of many ethnic groups. I love the costumes and movement, and I have a high impression [of the show]," he said. Dan was especially impressed by the dance number Tibetan Dance of Praise. "I have a special love for Tibet. I have a friend who is a lama. I have a respect and affinity for the Tibetans," he said.

The portrayal of the persecution of the Falun Dafa spiritual practice in modern-day China in the show caught his eye. "It's an eye-opener. It's something that should be seen by Westerners." He remarked that the information that one gets as an American is not accurate. "That's an eye-opener," he repeated.

Despite being familiar with the ethnic groups of China, he said he still learned something new about them in the show. Overall, Dan enthusiastically gave the show a rating of 10 out of 10.

Professor of Piano: 'Pianist was outstanding'

Curtain call at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

Dr. Tsong, professor of piano at the University of North Carolina who has performed and received awards from around the nation, is a native Canadian born to Taiwanese parents. She appreciated the depiction of 5,000 years of traditional culture through music and dance and shared her concern for the loss of this divinely inspired culture. "I thought they did a really good job in bringing back the traditional qualities and found myself thinking, if we have groups like this that could so easily be lost, especially the dancing part, if we didn't have people continuing to dance these things then, it would be lost," she said.

She said, "I've never seen anything like it. I was very impressed with the costuming. I thought that everything was just so spectacular, especially all the flowing silk, just gorgeous. I thought the choreography was very good too."

Dr. Tsong commented on the live orchestra. She said, "It was an interesting sound to hear,the western and the eastern instruments combined, because you can hear that it is different from just the traditional western orchestra. Also, I thought that the pianist was outstanding, she really followed the singers very well. She had a very lyrical sense herself, to her playing. She was also very beautiful to watch."

Retired Opera Singer Sees Depth and Joy in Shen Yun

Former New Yorker, Crist, a retired computer industry employee, and his wife Megan, also a former New Yorker, retired opera singer, and off-Broadway actress, were glad to have bought tickets to the Shen Yun performance. This couple loved the music, dance, and songs. "The dancers are incredible, the coordination, the musicality, the skill, and the music. The overall effect is so wonderful," Crist said.

Megan said: "What I found very moving was the spiritual message given by the vocalists. It was wonderful, and it was wonderful that we could see [on the backdrop] what they were singing. The vocalists were all fantastic. The company is so skilled and so warm. I thought they were wonderful, and the tenor was bringing the house down. All of them had such wonderful technique and feeling. That's the most important. You see the lyrics, you see the words, and the words can relate to anyone who is looking for something in this world, something more than power and money. I can understand everything about the production. It can relate to everyone. Universally."

Crist said: "We are all humans. We all share the same feelings and same basic needs and spirit. So, in the performing arts, we can always see that. Even though we think that Western music is different from Eastern music or dance, it is not really. ... There is so much that they have in common."

Megan said, "Also, there is joy in it. There is depth, there is thinking. [It] makes you think. It is a very full production. It is wonderful."

Adapted from:

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28091/

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28129/

http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/28131/

Category: Shen Yun Performing Arts