SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Michael Stoneking, director of operations for the Central Valley Asian-American Chamber of Commerce, saw a message in Shen Yun Performing Arts he felt deserved attention.

“I think there’s a good message in this show; people should pay attention to that,” said Mr. Stoneking at the Sacramento Community Center Theater, Jan. 14.

“It’s a good cultural experience,” Mr. Stoneking said of New York-based Shen Yun’s revival of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“Some of the culture’s been repressed and it’s good to spread the culture [of] so many thousands of years,” Mr. Stoneking. “It’s never good to hide history or oppress culture.”

The traditional Chinese dance was unlike any dance Mr. Stoneking had seen before. Brilliant costumes and a multitude of props are used in the mini-dramas of classical Chinese dance, and ethnic and folk dances.

“They look like flowers sometimes too, when they’re dancing,” Mr. Stoneking said.

Built on thousands of years of traditions and aesthetic principles, classical Chinese dance is a vast and independent dance system which includes difficult aerial techniques, unique postures and movements, and an emphasis on bearing.

“Beautiful. Very smooth, and artistic,” Mr. Stoneking said.

Reporting by Gary Wang and Catherine Yang

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.