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PHOENIX—Professor emeritus Hall seemed to be intellectually as well as aesthetically impressed by the Shen Yun Performing Arts show at the Gammage Theater on March 27.
"I am actually using science and civilization in China as the opening part of the book to show that different cultures approach science and civilization very differently," he said.
"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.”
He was surprised by the complexity and color of the backgrounds. "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.
One of the first dances is The Udumbara's Bloom. Feminine dancers in sparkling white costumes portray the opening of tiny bell-and-lotus-shaped blossoms. The projected backdrop also displays the tiny white flowers.
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 was particularly struck by the synchronization in the dances and by the use of the hands. 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."
Some dances use chopsticks, ribbons, flowing sleeves, and fans to enhance the visual and rhythmic effects. Welcoming Spring, his favorite dance, makes exuberant use of fans. He said, "The use of the fans and the way the fans turned into flowers at the end was very impressive."
He felt the show was designed to appeal to Western and Eastern people.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org
