HAMILTON, Ont.—The performance of Shen Yun Performing Arts amazed and inspired many in the audience at the First Ontario Concert Hall on April 15.

Andy and Carolyn Habjan thoroughly enjoyed everything about the performance.

Mr. Habjan, a CPA and partner in his accounting firm, said, “It was colorful. It was beautiful. It was inspirational to a certain extent. It was a great concert.”

Shen Yun’s spiritual message impressed Mr. Habjan, and he said he would encourage others to “go see it. Like I said, we talked about the spirituality of it. I think that’s the one thing that hit me probably more than anything else. Because like I said, I haven’t read much about the Chinese culture and the history of it, but that really struck me. In a positive way. “

“I think it’s a brave statement. It’s a very brave statement,” Mrs. Habjan said, referring to Shen Yun’s stand against communism in China.

“I think just the culture itself is very unique. We’re not familiar with the Chinese culture as well as we are with modern dance and things that we’ve seen here, but we truly, truly enjoyed it,” she said. “We’ve been wanting to come for many years. We finally made it.”

“Actually, seeing this is just incredible. I thought it was great,” Mr. Habjan said.

“This is my first exposure to the Chinese culture like that. And I think it was great, but I’m sort of still absorbing it right now.”

The Habjans enjoyed the choreography, costumes, and the 3D interactive backdrop.

“The costumes were beautiful. And the screen,” Mrs. Habjan said. “The interaction between the performers on the stage and the screen, and what’s happening behind the scenes, too. It’s wonderful.”

Mr. Habjan said the screen “blends in so nicely. It’s great.”

“I think the divine itself is in every culture,” Mrs. Habjan said.

“I think we all strive to be better people. I think that’s what it was all about. That’s what it was meant to be, that we’re meant to be good. We’re here to do good. And when we see the evil around us, we try to get beyond that. And I think that’s the human spirit.”

China’s spirituality in the culture surprised Mr. Habjan. “Actually, I’m surprised at the spirituality because I never realized that I didn’t go back in the Chinese history to read about it. But I’m just surprised at that. And actually, it was nice to see,” he said.

With the world changing today, the Habjans approved of Shen Yun’s bold traditional message of goodness.

“I think we’re undergoing the same cultural change, too. I think we all do have the same God. ... Things are changing in our ideas and how we view people around us. [There’s] more of a ‘me’ society and not so much about sharing, but more within. And maybe that’s not so good,” Mrs. Habjan said.

Mr. Habjan could see commonalities with Chinese culture. “Having the Christian faith that we have, it’s also nice to see how it relates to the Chinese culture as well. I was surprised at it, in a positive way.”

“As it was said on stage, too, that you certainly couldn’t bring that to China and present that. And it goes to show how we have a whole different mindset here compared to a communist country, not necessarily just China,” Mrs. Habjan said.

Mr. Habjan said the strong message was done in a “relatable” and subtle way. “I think it was subtle to me. I kind of enjoyed that part of it. I didn’t want it to be thrown at me. And this way it was done, I guess ‘nice’ isn’t the right word, but in a good manner,” he said.