An actress, Ms. Judson-Yager gave her overall impression of the performance. “The only way I can explain it is: Pewww! Because all of the senses are engaged, your heart, your soul, everything gets just kind of tingled. And the colors and the visuals and the emotions, it’s stunning!” she said.

She was inspired by many aspects of Shen Yun. “The work ethic of the dancers and their connection to the stories, and their desire to tell it, is really inspiring. And the colors and the fabrics and the designs and everything—it’s creatively inspiring. Even if I’m not a dancer or a stylist, it’s inspiring for my own art.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun was founded in 2006 by leading Chinese artists and quickly became the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Shen Yun’s mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture, but is still banned in China.

Shen Yun presents that spiritual aspect inherent to traditional Chinese culture on stage. “You know it’s interesting,” Ms. Judson-Yager said. “This is our third time seeing it, and I didn’t really realize that, because the first time I saw it I was just so enthralled with the art of it that I wasn’t taking in the story.

“And so the concept of Divinity coming down to earth is very interesting because that’s not what most Americans have grown up with, that idea. So that’s very interesting. And I just love that the stories continue to be told even when they’re not allowed to be told in China where they come from. So, I love being able to support that.”

To the Shen Yun’s Artistic Director and performers, Ms. Judson-Yager said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! There is no doubt that you have pulled out all the stops and done everything that you can do to create a phenomenal show, and it is absolutely flawless. So, thank you!”

Ms. Judson-Yager says she recommends the show. “All the time, I do,” she said.

Dynamic Background Integrates Everything: Artist

Artist Timothy Jobst attended the March 16 performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts and appreciated the quality of the backdrop. “I paint murals and scenery,” he said. "So I like the backgrounds you see here. I do something similar to that in the TV and film industry.”

Mr. Jobst’s career in art spans 35 years. “I work on stages and sets for events, similar to this, so I really enjoy what you have. Here’s a lot of work: costumes, choreography, background sets. And then I like how they video integrated everything.”

It’s natural for an artist to notice how the colors connect the stories together, he said. “Love. There’s just tons of color, huge palette. So not only in the performances, and the actors, but also in the backgrounds. And I saw the costumes matching the backgrounds, you know, which was pretty awesome.”

But he was most impressed with “the amount of work that went into the choreography in the dancing and, of course, a lot of the costumes are so amazing.”

History and Culture

Mr. Jobst goes to a variety of cultural events as a way to travel to different lands.

“And any chance we get to go out and experience some multicultural staged events: live performances are best. You know a lot of work that the actors put in the choreography, stage lighting the music, all ties in,” he said.

Discovering Chinese culture at Shen Yun was more than he expected. “Finding a little bit more about Chinese history is why we’re here.” But he said there was more. “A lot more. It’s a wonderful surprise.”

What surprised him was “the unexpected. The unexpected is good, so as well as the expected. Don’t know a lot about Chinese culture. So that’s what I came for.”

His experience of the performance was spiritual for him. “I would consider [myself] spiritual, so that part I enjoyed very much. They brought in meditation as a form of art. And we have to meditate as well. And I saw the story about the meditation, the oppression of that. So that was very interesting.”

“We practice something called ascension; that’s our meditation. And we saw the ascension in the story on stage. Even the lion went and ascended, and the villain or the antagonist ascended, which is pretty awesome, too.”

‘A Group Effort’

Mr. Jobst said his favorite aspect of Shen Yun is how people work together. “I really liked how the Chinese integrate with a lot of unity, meaning the performance is based on governing dynamics, meaning everyone working together, otherwise it doesn’t happen.”

“There’s no solo actors, no one taking precedence over anyone else,” he said. “In fact, if they don’t work together, it doesn’t come off well. That’s what I really liked about it, that everyone’s working as a team, a group effort, which is really different than a lot of American performances.'”

But he liked Shen Yun’s approach of working as one. “That’s why it works so well. Without everyone working together, the show won’t even come off. I like that. I noticed that in the second half. I see that now.”

This was Mr. Jobst’s first time to see Shen Yun. He heard about it on social media and he would recommend others see it. “Definitely recommend,” he said.