FRANKFURT, Germany—Martin Lessenthin, President of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) attended the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company performance in Frankfurt's Jahrhunderthalle on Friday evening, March 12.

During this opening night of Shen Yun in Frankfurt, the audience honored the performers with resounding applause.

Mr. Lessenthin remarks were echoed by those who had attended with him.

"We are an international human rights association and have asked our members to attend the Shen Yun performance," he said.

"We were captivated this evening and deeply touched when watching the different stories told by the dancers. We were especially impressed with the message we heard in connection to the Chinese culture and the way it was presented to the audience."

Being deeply involved with human rights, he appreciated when content touched on that subject, "It was brilliant how the human rights message was presented."

Mr. Lessenthin was referring to two heart-rendering dances that depict the persecution of those who practice Falun Gong in China, Nothing Can Block the Divine Path and Astounding Conviction.

In these two performances, dancers two stories: one is of a mother who is arrested in a park for persisting in her belief of living by the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance; the second is of a young man who went to Tiananmen Square and peacefully held a banner that says "Falun Dafa is Good." He is beaten brutally by police. Divine beings come to his aid and he continues with his peaceful demonstration.

"Yes, I know that what was shown about modern China is reality. Though, reality is often of greater brutality than shown by these scenes. In no way did the artists boast or exaggerate."

He added, "I find this message very important to bring such realities in the form of art and shows to the general public."

Being a human rights advocate, he was also pleased that the dancers presented stories of different ethnicities, as this highlights the difference in ethnic cultures.

"I'm sincerely delighted that the artists performed a Tibetan and Mongolian dance," he said.

As well as its live orchestra which combines Chinese and Western instruments, Shen Yun uses state-of-the-art technology to produce larger-than-life, digitally animated backdrops that complement each performance.

"The backdrop was a fantastic idea and first class. Not only the backdrop, but also the orchestra; the combination of classical Chinese instruments and Western instruments were a great success and helped the Western ear learn about and get to love the Chinese music."

He was impressed with the bi-lingual emcees who introduced each of the scenes in both Chinese and German.

Mr. Lessenthin was deeply moved by the show, saying: "Today we experienced the positive, traditional China. This is of great importance and I hope that we have many more such opportunities."

With reporting by NTDTV.

Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company will be performing two more shows at the Jahrhunderthalle in Frankfurt, March 13-14. On their European Tour Shen Yun will perform in 13 European countries with 34 shows from March 5 to April 28.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/31314/