[The Epoch Times, April 27, 2022](Reported by Epoch Times reporters Lin Nanyu and Wu Xianglian, American University Town) As spring blooms, Shen Yun New Era Performing Arts is on tour in Texas, USA, and is warmly welcomed wherever they go. On Tuesday, Shen Yun came to College Station, Texas, where Mayor Karl Mooney issued an order of commendation, declaring April 26, 2022, as “Shen Yun Performance Day” in College Station, Texas.
University City is home to the campus of Texas A&M University (A&M or TAMU) and was once named the “Most Educated City in Texas”. Founded in 1876, Texas A&M University is one of the top 100 engineering schools in the world. Its engineering school ranks among the top ten in the United States. It currently has more than 11,000 faculty members and more than 72,000 students (statistics as of fall 2021). It is the university with the largest number of students in the United States.
The Shen Yun Performing Arts Troupe came to the university town for the third time. As Mayor Mooney expected, the citizens celebrated the Shen Yun performance as a major local event. On the evening of the 26th, more than 2,000 spectators attended the Rudder Auditorium.
A&M engineering professor Bob Brydia praised Shen Yun for bringing people “a beautiful production that brings together history, dance and art history.” Jon Hunter, a professor of physiology, said “the performance is educational”.
Shen Yun’s extended cultural horizons professor: performances are educational
“Looking back at thousands of years of Chinese culture, how beautiful it is, and how beautiful the Chinese are, from this point of view, I think the performance is educational.” Jon Hunter, a professor of physiology at Texas A&M University, said after watching Shen Yun .
Hunter is a professor of physiology in the A&M Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology (VTPP). When he saw Shen Yun’s TV commercials, he thought that his wife loved music and dancing, and she must have loved this show. On the evening of April 26, he and his wife watched the Shen Yun performance.
Hunter exclaimed: “The performance is spectacular, the level is amazing!”
“The physical ability and grace of these dancers is unbelievable,” he said. “I can’t believe their dance skills. They’re amazing.”
Hunter said the dance show was “very impressive” and “the music was great, it was really uplifting and so exciting”.
Hunter has visited Hong Kong, but he did not know that Chinese culture is full of spirituality before watching Shen Yun. He said: “So this (performance) is really good, and the spiritual beliefs of the Chinese people are really interesting.”
He expressed his admiration for Shen Yun’s commitment to restoring traditional Chinese culture: “It’s an amazing thing to draw everyone’s attention to lost traditions. The show has expanded our vision of world culture, which is what impressed me deeply.”
He praised Shen Yun artists as “really super talented” and hoped that they would make persistent efforts and continue to introduce traditional Chinese culture to people.
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Bob Brydia, an engineering professor at Texas A&M University, experienced Shen Yun for the first time, and praised Shen Yun’s high-tech dynamic canopy “combining the background with the stage scene, the actors going in and out of the ‘background’ is wonderful, so smart!”
“They brought us a beautiful production that brings together history, dance and art history.”
Brydia is a professor at Texas A&M University and a senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. At the suggestion of his wife Justine Brydia, the couple watched the Shen Yun performance together.
Justine said: “As soon as I saw Shen Yun coming to the university town, I wanted to watch it. The show was absolutely beautiful, the colors were gorgeous and spectacular, and the show was pleasing to the eye.”
Brydia Zappe said: “The music is beautiful to the ears. The beauty of the dance, the emotional depth it shows, and the story of the dance drama, all without any language.” Justine also appreciates the story of the dance drama.
Shen Yun revived Chinese orthodox culture with stage art, and the Brydia couple expressed their appreciation in unison.
“It’s very, very important,” Justine said. “We’re short lived and seeing other cultures in America — like this show, she opened our eyes to what’s going on in other countries.”
Brydia lamented that what he saw from the show was “enthusiasm, beauty, artistry, history, and things like dance that are so different from what we see in America today.”
“Seeing different types of dances and other things that have been passed down to this day is very magical.” He said, after watching Shen Yun, “I appreciate the entire Chinese history, profound cultural traditions, and the Chinese culture of the past dynasties even more.”
Composer appreciates Shen Yun music: I really like the fusion of Chinese and Western music
“I really like the combination of Chinese and Western music.” Composer Dave Skinner said: “I like this show because she focuses on faith and honors the Creator, which is a really good idea.”
Skilled at playing piano, guitar, mandolin and violin, Skinner started a music studio eight years ago, composing for film and musicals, after 30 years as a financial advisor. He is a member of the “Austin Songwriters Group” and “Nashville International Songwriters Association”, and his works have been nominated for best soundtrack and best song at music festivals such as Genreblast.
This is the second time Skinner and his wife have watched Shen Yun at the Rhett Theatre. They brought their granddaughters to the show a few years ago, and now the children are learning Chinese at school. This time, they brought Skinner’s father and a friend with them.
Skinner praised: “The performance is wonderful and the colors are magnificent.” He is most fascinated by two Chinese classical dances, “Water Sleeve” and “Show Spring Plum”.
“I love Shen Yun music,” Skinner said. “It’s interesting that the host mentioned the fusion of China and the West. Western music only has 12 scales, while in the East – in India and China, there are much more middle scales, which increases Difficulty of composition; Western notes, standard notes are easy to write, especially very popular in Japan and China. However, when you get back to ancient cultures including musical instruments, it is like saying two-stringed erhu, how many notes does she have? Infinitely many. I am very I like the combination of Chinese and Western music.”
Skinner further praised the content behind the show: “I like this show because she focuses on faith and honors the Creator, which is really good. In our American culture, sometimes people don’t stand up for their beliefs. And Here, this wonderful, traditional Chinese show stands up for faith and freedom. It’s all spiritual, there’s dance in front of the stage, and dance celebrates many things, not just dance. “
Shen Yun’s mission is to promote traditional Chinese culture, and Skinner said, “We like that. You lost your culture in 1949, so we got her back, which is a good thing. Can’t we see what happened in China in 1949? horrible.”
Watching Shen Yun, he was inspired by: “There must be faith and hope.”
Skinner also said: “We absolutely loved The Epoch Times. When we realized… oh my God! We started reading it.”
Responsible editor: Jia Lin#
