NEW YORK—For the third time in as many years, Jim Cohen, the founding partner of a law firm, enjoyed a show by Shen Yun Performing Arts on Apr. 21.

“I thought it was a wonderful show,” Mr Cohen said. “We’ve enjoyed it for several years before—it’s always beautiful.”

Mr. Cohen attended the performance with his wife, Joanne Cohen, a fine arts appraiser, and his granddaughter.

He appreciated the effect of the stage props, including flowers and the extended sleeves.

The Shen Yun Performing Arts New York company performed several dances where long silk sleeves were used both as a costume and a visual prop.

In one such dance, Ancient Elegance, a group of fairies “glide like whispers on the wind, skillfully spinning with long silky sleeves,” the Shen Yun program book says.

His grand daughter enjoyed the battles, said Mr. Cohen.

The mission of Shen Yun, a New York-based company, is to revive 5,000 years of China’s divinely inspired culture through the performing arts.

Mr. Cohen’s wife also enjoyed the performance.

“I love Shen Yun,” Ms. Cohen said. “We love the incredible technical work, where suddenly you have someone jumping into the screen and they’re no longer a person, and it’s absolutely incredible.”

Shen Yun’s animated backdrops create “vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one,” the Shen Yun website states.

Shen Yun Shows a ‘Unique, different culture’

Chuck Fitzsimmons, owner of Tri-State Aluminum, also said he loved Shen Yun, including the dance and the colors.

The many story-based dances, as well as the ethnic and folk dances, and classical Chinese dance, pleased Mr. Fitzsimmons, who said he enjoyed the succession from one dance piece to the next.

“We just came out for some different entertainment, something that we wouldn’t normally see and we’re really glad we did,” he said.

He saw through the Shen Yun performance a ‘Unique, different culture.’

Drawing on a range of myths and legends from China’s vast cultural library, Shen Yun presents the culture and its range of concepts and virtues, such as how one should respect the heavens and the divine, and wisdom, sincerity, and propriety. These stem from the three original faiths in China, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, according to Shen Yun’s website.

Mr. Fitzsimmons said he appreciated how the culture is intertwined with respect for the divine.

“I enjoy that,” he said.

“You don’t normally hear that, you hear the red side, the communist side to the story.”

Shen Yun can’t currently perform in China because the ruling communist regime nearly decimated the very culture it seeks to revive.

Reporting by NTD Television and Ivan Pentchoukov

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

Shen Yun Performing Arts is performing at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center through April 28.

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.