HOUSTON—Shen Yun Performing Arts delighted the audience at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts on December 29. Kathleen Jones and her son Gary Jones brought their family to enjoy Shen Yun’s performance at the matinee.

Ms. Jones said, “I thought it was magnificent. This was my second time to see it. I saw it seven years ago with my husband, and in Alabama. And it was just lovely then. But this is absolutely wonderful. It meets all my expectations. It’s magnificent.”

Mr. Jones, owner of a tool rental business, said it was his first time to see Shen Yun and agreed. “I thought it was very good. It was excellent. Very pretty. Very pretty.”

Shen Yun presented a spiritual aspect of Chinese culture that Mr. Jones was not aware of. “Yes, I did not realize that. But it was good. I liked it.”

He said there were similarities to his own belief. “The similarities, I guess, would be kindness and seeking to do better, to treat humankind better.

“I like the fact that they stood up against the Chinese communists, and what communism has done to China and the way that it’s changed it. I really appreciated that. That’s a bold thing because China is pretty tough on their citizens. I really appreciated them doing that,” he said.

Mr. Jones enjoyed the musical performances, especially the erhu, and listening being like meditation and its sound being very calming. “I really like that instrument. It’s very, very pretty.”

Real estate developer Mark Leago was amazed at the talent of the performers: “the talent of the dancers and the talent of the symphony.”

Leago said, “It’s nice to see that there’s people from the Chinese culture that have a spiritual belief as opposed to the communist party. So we’re happy to see that.

On a deeper level, he noted how the storylines conveyed a spiritual dimension. “I liked the spiritual aspect of it. I thought they do a very good job of where they transition from the film, the characters from the film to reality and back. I thought that was interesting.”

Leago did not approve of the persecution going on in China today. “It’s not good. I wish that the people in China had more freedom and more rights to speak, and more rights to protest, and that it would be respected by the government.

“We don’t like to see entrepreneurs and people who provide services to humanity persecuted,” he said.

The talent and skills of the dancers impressed Leago. “I appreciate the discipline in their actions and their performance. And you can tell that they train a lot. I thought they did a great job performing.”

He spoke of the spiritual aspect of everyone’s life. “We all do study of spiritual things, and I think that it’s something that should be common to all people, regardless of what country you’re from,” he said.

“The importance of parables that tell the story of struggle, and the fact that there’s a belief in a spiritual world and spiritual guidance” was a similarity to his own belief.

There are similarities between Eastern and Western culture that Leago recognized: “The belief in something larger than ourselves, that there is spiritual guidance for good, and that there is a good versus evil in the story of mankind.”

When asked if he would recommend Shen Yun, Leago said, “Absolutely. It combines music and dance, is very thoughtful, very nice to watch, and very nice to experience it.”