SAN FRANCISCO—Ex’pression College president and creative director, Spencer Nilsen and his wife, Claire, were among the theatergoers at Shen Yun Performing Arts’ evening show at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday, July 24.

When asked about the display of classical Chinese dance and music, Mr. Nilsen replied: “Oh, it’s beautiful. Wonderful music and the costumes are incredible. The dance is spectacular, very athletic and beautiful.”

Mr. Nilsen has a impressive background in the music and digital media. He has worked on show productions for bands, and he has worked together with others and produced and directed many TV shows, commercials and music videos for ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, The Super Bowl and American Express. Mr. Nilsen was hired by SEGA where he headed the music department and composed many well-known movie soundtracks.

Currently, Mr. Nilsen is the acting president of Ex’pression College for digital arts.

Mr. Nilsen enjoyed the culture and storytelling of Shen Yun. “First of all, the culture is so extraordinary in the storytelling—it’s fantastic through the use of dance and music and choreography,” he said.

Who knows, Mr. Milsen may have gotten some new inspiration for the next video soundtrack he works on after attending the show.

“I’m always interested in new art forms and new music, and this seems to be a wonderful combination of both,” and, “I’m interested in all art forms—this in particular—just the combination of the different music and dance. Having only been exposed to Western ballet and dance and orchestration, it’s a different approach,” said Mr. Nilsen, referring to the Shen Yun New York Company orchestra.

The elaborate backdrop and stage props used by Shen Yun are unique and give added depth to each performance, something Mr. Nilsen enjoyed. “I think it’s fascinating. The colors are very vibrant and obviously sets the location for each of the scenes.”

“I think the use of the props and things like that in storytelling, and in the suspension of disbelief that they use in telling the stories.”

Mr. Nilsen went on to shed light on the term "suspension of disbelief" with respect to Shen Yun. “It’s almost like a film, where once the lights go down, and the music comes up, and the action begins then you’re taken into a—you basically let your imagination go and accept the story that’s being told and not trying to find fault in it or have it make sense in a modern way.”

He was impressed by the story-based classical Chinese dance performance Tibetan Dance of Praise. “I loved the Tibetan Himalayas section—I thought it was fascinating. I love the use of the sleeves.”

Mrs. Nilsen is a former musician and enjoyed sitting close to the orchestra. “I love being able to see the orchestra,” she said.

Ex’pression College offers several bachelor’s degrees and is accredited by the accrediting commission of career schools and colleges. Mr. Nilsen elaborated: “We have degrees in all aspects of digital arts for entertainment, primarily. A lot of animation and motion capture and stop motion animation but also a lot of music recording and sound recording for film and TV, records, game design, that kind of thing. It’s all informed by this kind of art. Especially across cultures. Yeah, it’s fascinating. It’s great,” concluded Mr. Nelson.

Shen Yun Performing Arts will perform at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House through Sunday, July 25. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39733/