TEL AVIV, Israel—Galit Toledano, CEO of an integrative wellness center, caught the last Shen Yun performance in Tel Aviv on April 13 and was glad she made it.

“It was a very special experience. Truly unlike anything I had thought or expected. I wasn’t sure why I was waiting for it, but when I saw the advertisement, something inside me said, ‘Wow, this sounds interesting,’  and I saw that it was happening on my birthday,” she said. 

“So, I came with a sense of curiosity about what it was going to be, and I was amazed by the beauty and the movement, and by the connection between technology and something very old-school-like ballet, with all the costumes, the most classic thing, and the added value was the connection to spirituality, suddenly talking about divinity was something very different from what we’re used to, so it was expansive. Something truly different. Something that provides a more comprehensive experience.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“The movement was great, a kind of movement that makes you want to go out to the street and dance,” she added. “I felt the hands, the movements, this thing that was opening all the time. There was a feeling of something that was very, very opening.”

She also felt a sense of peace from listening to the music.

“The music was very, very pleasant, very peaceful—I could listen to it for hours—there was a great harmony in it. In general, there was something in this harmony that you couldn’t feel how time passed,” she said. From the moment the performance began to the break in intermission, it was completely continuous, “in a way that made me want more.”

She singled out the erhu, the two-stringed ancient instrument, for the inspiration it gave her.

“I said to myself, ‘Wow, what can you do with two strings! And where can you take it, what can you do with it.’ That is, what in our lives is only two strings—which at first glance is not much. But with willingness and understanding, you can go far with it because we saw what could be done on stage with it. These two strings gave me a lot of inspiration here.”

Ms. Toledano said she knew that the modern China was different from ancient China, but she hadn’t realized that Shen Yun could not even perform in China, which is still under communist rule by a regime that has tried for 70 years to uproot traditional culture.

“It’s terrible,“ she said, because the traditional culture was ”so beautiful, so rich, and so full. But at least we got it, so we need to focus on that, on the good.”

“This is a very rare colorfulness—all the colors of the rainbow. There were all the colors, bright colors, soft colors. I think this is part of this sensory reward. In the experience, you can maybe break it down, but you can also see its overall effect.”

“For those who are willing to be open to the experience, not to come with any preconceived notions, but really surrender—they should come.”

“It’s not like anything else. And I think it’s like a trip like that, like a small trip abroad. Traveling without a plane and without a passport.”