FRESNO, Calif.—Traditional Chinese culture is one of the world’s oldest living cultures. So it’s fitting that Katarzyna Dorosz, the founder and president of the Institute of Longevity in California, would turn to that civilization for tips on how to live a long and healthy life.

Shen Yun depicts the essence of China’s true culture on stage, which is deeply spiritual. Spiritual practices that have encouraged health and longevity such as Buddhism, Daoism, and Falun Dafa feature in the performance’s roughly 20 short storytelling dances. Falun Dafa is an ancient meditation practice that also encompasses the moral principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance.

Classical Chinese dance is renowned for being a profoundly lyrical and expressive art form that developed in the courts of the ancient dynasties, and that has roots in martial arts. Shen Yun’s dancers are recognized around the world as paragons in this art form. They attribute their skills and artistry in large part to Falun Dafa, which they practice in their everyday lives.

“The choreography, the flexibility, the body—and I know how many hours these people need to spend and exercise every day [to]  give us the beautiful show. I’ve been many times in [other] show[s] but I’ve never seen nothing what is the beautiful like this,” Dorosz said.

She reiterated how impressed she was that she saw so much of China’s rich and storied culture in this one performance.

“I read before I come into this performance about history, Chinese. Everything, every detail, from a past time, it’s one to one and we don’t need to read. We just sit in the chair and we see and we understand,” she said, describing how enjoyable it was for her to absorb so much she would otherwise have to read in books or through lectures.

“I am very sensitive today, but now I think I am in the sky thanks to this performance, thanks to the beautiful dancing. Thank you so much,” she said to the show’s organizers and Shen Yun’s artists.

To describe Shen Yun in a single sentence, Dorosz quoted the Latin phrase “non omnis moriar” or “I shall not wholly die.”

“When you come to this today and you see this performance, you never be died [you'll never really die] because you see something what’s always have in your heart.”