SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Sandy Lay, an escort for Silver State Trailways, brought 50 seniors on a bus from the Hemet area of southern California to the California Center for the Arts in Escondido on Chinese New Year, Feb. 19, to see Shen Yun Performing Arts.

“I love it,” she said. “The elegance, and the costuming, and the flow. … It’s beautiful.”

Ms. Lay said the Hemet office of Silver State Trailways offered a bus tour to Shen Yun for the first time this year, and they got a big response.

“We had such a waiting list!” she said. “The one bus filled up, and we had a waiting list, so [we added] another one for Tuesday, for the evening show.”

Founded in 2006, New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to revive the true, divinely inspired 5000-year culture of China through breathtaking music and dance, according to the company website.

Shen Yun specializes in classical Chinese dance, accompanied by a rare East-meets-West live orchestra, with vibrant costumes, stunning backdrops, and musical soloists, says the website.

Ms. Lay thought the performance was very unique.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said.

Cindy Jesch, a retiree in the tour group who raises miniature poodles, enjoyed the interaction of the animated backdrop with the dancers, who often seem to leap directly into or out of the background onto the stage.

“I really like the way that they merged the technology with the traditional dance,” she said. “They did a really nice job with that—the choreography.”

Ms. Lay also enjoyed the backdrop and was very impressed with the dancers themselves.

“It’s like you can’t even hear them walking or dancing on the floor,” she said. “It’s amazing. They’re so light on their feet.”

Ms. Lay said the group was excited about Shen Yun’s popularity and were looking forward to next year’s show.

Shen Yun Fills People With Compassion

“The goodness—the idea of goodness and humans—it’s just amazing, it fills you up with a lot of compassion,” Mr. Equez said excitedly.

Audience member Malcolm Eguez is retired, but he used to work as an inspector for the state of California’s Bureau of Automotive Repair. His wife, Anamaria, is also retired and used to work in the real estate and mortgage business.

They both loved Shen Yun and experienced an overwhelming feeling of goodness during the performance.

“The colors!” gushed Mrs. Eguez. “All of it, so beautiful, very impressive.”

“Throughout history almost every culture looked toward the divine for inspiration,” states the Shen Yun website. “Art was meant to uplift, bringing joy to both the people who created and experienced it. It is this principle that drives Shen Yun performers and their art.”

Mr. and Mrs. Eguez both gasped at the memory of a soprano soloist who sang during the performance.

“Wow,” said Mrs. Eguez, commenting on the power of the singer’s voice. “Where is that voice coming from?”

Mr. Eguez said, “The idea behind all these artists and thinking, it has a deep feeling about it. It has some kind of idea, reason behind it. It’s a message.”

“It’s a very good message. It feels good,” he added.

“Even without any words, just with the dancing, they are telling you the message—very explicit,” said Mrs. Eguez.

Mr. and Mrs. Eguez had wanted to attend Shen Yun last year but missed it since it was sold out.

Telling their friends to come and see Shen Yun is something they are definitely going to do!

Reporting by Jane Yang, Sophia Fang, and Sarah Le

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.

Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006