EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Wayne Parke, a retired civil engineer, felt that seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 28 at the Aiken Theatre at The Centre was a chance to come to understand Chinese culture. “I learned a lot,” he said.

“It’s nice to be able to see the Chinese culture and how it developed,” said Mr. Parke, who is chairman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party.

New York-based Shen Yun brings 5,000 years of Chinese civilization to the world, as four companies tour simultaneously. Each has a full complement of classically trained dancers, award-winning singers, and a full orchestra comprised of both Eastern and Western instruments.

As far as the quality of the performance is concerned, Mr. Parke enjoyed everything he saw: “The costumes are pretty, and of course the coordination of the players, the singers, and everything is just fantastic. You can tell they’re first class.”

What struck Mr. Parke most was the coordination among the many dancers on stage. “I think the biggest thing—I have to go back to it—is how well they are coordinated together,” he said, “and being an engineer I notice things like that.”

Mr. Parke hopes that more Evansville folk will attend.

“I think it’s good to come out and see it, and to have the experience and support things like this coming to Evansville,” he concluded, “because we need more things like this to come and help us understand better how the rest of the world was put together.”

Reporting by Cat Rooney and Sharon Kilarski

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