HAMILTON, Canada—Gary Melling is used to meeting tough expectations as the CEO of Epic Software, a company that provides human resource solutions to some of North America’s biggest companies.

On Sunday afternoon, he had a major VIP to impress—his mother.

Mr. Melling brought his mother to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at Hamilton Place Theatre. She was looking for something that was “classic, professional, bright in music and colour,” he said.

“Shen Yun delivered on all of that.” 

His mother wasn’t the only one happy to be there.

“I loved it. I absolutely loved it,” said Mr. Melling. “I was very impressed with the precision, with the timing, the colours, the costumes, the lighting, the music—it was all wonderful.”

Mr. Melling’s daughter is a professional ballerina, so he’s been watching dance for many years, he said. That’s given him a bit of an eye for dance and choreography. He gushed over the talent of the dancers on the stage and also noted Shen Yun’s innovative digitally projected backdrop. 

“I have never seen a back screen used with the animation like that before, and to me that was very interesting.”

Shen Yun’s vividly animated backdrop extends the range of the stage from grasslands to heavenly palaces, with the scenes sometimes interacting with the dancers onstage.

Mr. Melling said he would be telling his daughter, who is based in Montreal, “Go and see it, absolutely … it’s wonderful.”

Shen Yun will be continuing on from Hamilton to Kitchener, then Ottawa, Montreal and other Canadian cities in the weeks to follow.

The company was founded on a mission to revive China’s divinely inspired culture, which was based heavily on the ideals of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism and their guiding values like compassion and respect for others.

Mr. Meller said it was good to have a show like Shen Yun giving a performance focused on those universal values.

“I think to a large extent they’re missing in modern society so it’s wonderful to have a place to come and be reminded of them.”

With files from Becky Zhou

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

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.