MISSISSAUGA, Canada—Shen Yun Performing Arts’ opening night at the Living Arts Centre gave a profound appreciation of the ancient Chinese culture to Ashley D'Silva and his wife Lorna on Friday, Jan. 16.

“I think it’s terrific, the choreography is amazing, the skills of the dancers, the acrobatics,” said Mr. D'Silva.

Mr. D'Silva is president of Daniels Capital Group. He’s a real estate developer in his 13th year with his employer. The company does a lot of work in the residential and commercial area in the Greater Toronto Area and Mississauga.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive authentic Chinese culture, one that has been almost completely destroyed after several decades of communist rule.

Mr. D'Silva thought this mission was very good and applauded Shen Yun for sharing it with the people in Mississauga.

“When you see some of the issues that they raise and how they dance and perform, it gives you the sense that they had a very rich cultural past, which unfortunately, in some places is not being displayed. But they have the courage to do it and bring it to the people in Mississauga which is great,” said Mr. D'Silva.

He was also struck by the fact that many of the dance skills and techniques started in classical Chinese dance and other disciplines have adopted these aspects.

“And it’s very elegant and it gives you some of the history behind that culture,” said Mrs. D'Silva.

Shen Yun’s performances feature classical Chinese dance, an extensive and independent system of dance. It is a very expressive art form. “Beautiful dance movements bring out the inner meaning of intrinsic thoughts and feelings, reflecting the peculiarities of human nature, the standard for human conduct, moral concepts, mental state, one’s value system, and so on,” says Shen Yun’s website.

“They have very a different spirit of dancing from what I’ve seen before, which is very nice to see. They seem to truly enjoy what they’re doing too, doesn’t look like work to them,” said Mrs. D'Silva.

Through classical Chinese dance, Shen Yun also presents ancient myths and legends from China’s glorious past.

A live orchestra beautifully blends the musical traditions of the East and West. The orchestra itself began touring the U.S. in 2012 and first came to Canada last year.

“Nice to see the West and the East meet,” said Mrs. D'Silva. “I thought it was all Chinese instruments and then I hear trumpets, so it’s a nice melding of it; must have taken a lot of work to get that to work well.”

“It’s a wonderful blend of East and West in music,” said Mr. D'Silva.

Shen Yun performs three more times in Mississauga before heading a short distance to Toronto.

Reporting by Rahul Vaidyanath

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

Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.