(Clearwisdom.net) Shen Yun Performing Arts continues to impress theater-goers at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House. Dr. Valerie Samson joined in the standing ovation on Tuesday January 5, 2010. She is a composer, ethnomusicologist, and performer. Her video documentary Sheng: Bamboo Mouth Organs won the John Lennon Award. Her documentation of music as a protest strategy at Tiananmen Square, 1989, is also well-known.

Dr. Samson appreciated the visual as well as the auditory. She said she was transported to another world.

Dr. Samson was profoundly touched and felt that she was transported to another world, "Almost a dream world of perfection that we don't see in real life. And when you see this on the stage, a world beyond the world we have..."

Dr. Samson loved all aspects of New York-based Shen Yun performances and commented on the erhu, a two-stringed traditional Chinese instrument, which she plays herself. "The quality of the piece, very much in keeping with the topic of the evening, which was a spiritual sense, it started off slow, almost melancholy, then sped up, and the technique--the performer is excellent.

"The pianist did a very good job, too... it's a very nostalgic kind of piece, almost showing reverence for the soul of China. It is traditionally an instrument that is almost like the voice of the people, speaking in a very nostalgic way for something.

Shen Yun presents a live orchestra which blends classical Western instruments with traditional Chinese instruments, resulting in a very unique sound. Currently it is the world's only orchestra that embraces both Western and Chinese instruments together. "This was very cooperative, so smooth. If you weren't thinking about the musicians you'd just imagine the music is coming from the heavens to support the dancers."

Dr. Samson was moved by the dance "Nothing Can Block the Divine Path," where a mother and daughter are persecuted for practicing Falun Dafa, a peaceful spiritual discipline.

"It is very wonderful to see and yet when you realize the message is that we need freedom of religion, the freedom to practice and believe as we choose, then you realize that this perfection is beyond the reach of most of the people in the world at this time," she said.

Dr. Samson saw a message in many of the performances and she appreciates the freedom that people in the United States have, but added, "It is useful for us to become more aware. ...when the times are not normal we must open our eyes. So I understand that extraordinary circumstances produce extraordinary works. So this is what I experienced tonight.

"I'm very glad that Falun Gong is present in a performance such as this--I can appreciate it. It is very important to be able to draw the meaning and spiritual strength from other people, even if you are not like them.

Reflecting further she added, "In my understanding there is a great deal of respect for tradition, and ancestors and tradition go together."

Shen Yun Performances "Perfected art" Says Musician

Ms. Perez, a musician, singer and composer, was greatly impressed by the Shen Yun Performing Arts live orchestra, a combination of Eastern and Western instruments. "It was beautiful. A beautiful performance, totally precise, just perfected art, like nothing I've ever seen before. It was gorgeous!"

Audience at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House on January 5, 2010

As a musician she was highly impressed, "Very well done, extremely professional, well rehearsed, well-performed, incredible! Hard to believe, really, very well done."

"They were all beautiful!" she said of the performances. "The one with the jewelry, it was an ethnic dance, that one stood out to me, it was beautiful." ["In a Miao Village"] The Miao people are one of the oldest of China's ethnic groups that are well known for their headdress, silver jewelry and their impressive dances.

Ms. Perez said she was touched upon hearing of the suffering of Falun Dafa practitioners in China. "I actually didn't know anything about Falun Dafa, wow! It's powerful, to understand that. I guess you can't widely practice it in China right now, that's basically the message that I got."

She added that she wished to learn more, "It seems beautiful. I actually want to research more about it, to see what it's about, to learn more about what is happening ... It makes me curious."

Sharing her experience, she said, "Beautiful! Congratulations [to Shen Yun], It was gorgeous. Thank you very much!"

Source: http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27562/ and http://theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/27539/