WATERBURY, Conn.—Sandy Rabinowitz, a sculptor, author, and widely published illustrator, repeated one word several times after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Palace Theater in Waterbury: Spectacular.

“I thought it was fabulous,” said Ms. Rabinowitz, who saw the performance Saturday afternoon March 8. “I thought the choreography was spectacular ... that really impressed me.”

Ms. Rabinowitz continued by praising “the artistry of the acrobatics,” again calling it spectacular.

Shen Yun is known as the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company. Classical Chinese dance, an art form passed down and enriched over thousands of years, has deep roots in traditional Chinese ideals about beauty and grace. It is also physically demanding, incorporating dramatic flips and tumbling techniques that share a common ancestry with martial arts.

One piece Ms. Rabinowitz mentioned in particular was High Spirits at the Yellow River. The dance depicts young men celebrating a bountiful harvest. Their strong, expansive, and relaxed movements are accentuated by “celadon ribbons [that] trail through the air like slivers of water or dancing dragons,” according to Shen Yun’s program book.

“I loved the … dancing with the long ribbons because that became part of the choreography,” said Ms. Rabinowitz.

The artist said she would tell her friends “they really should go.”

“It would give them a treat—a visual treat, a musical treat,” she said.

For her friends, she summed up her experience of Shen Yun in one word: “Spectacular.”

Reporting by Tianna Ren and Cindy Drukier

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

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