COSTA MESA, Calif.—Jim Busby found his evening spent with Shen Yun Performing Arts quite amazing. He said as a child growing up in Pasadena he was always fascinated by the Chinese culture.

Mr. Busby and his sister came to the March 13 performance of the Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Mr. Busby is a retired, world-class, professional road racing driver. He drove for Mazda and Porsche and had nine IMSA Camel GT series wins in 1976, ‘78, ’79 and ‘80. He was the Group 5 winner at the 1978 Le Mans 24-Hour, and repeated the Le Mans win in 1982 and 1984.

His mother Barbara Steele Williams, a noted philanthropist helped fund Segerstrom Center for the Arts, then known as the Orange County Performing Arts Center, with donations of millions of dollars.

Mr. Busby said, “I loved the show. It was absolutely fabulous,” adding that he appreciated being able to see the traditional Chinese culture through Shen Yun.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is a non-profit founded by a group of leading classical Chinese artists with a mission to revive China’s divinely inspired culture.

Mr. Busby said he was impressed with Shen Yun’s dances and the different movements performed by the artists.

“It was absolutely spectacular”, he said, “Probably the finest (performance) I’ve ever seen.”

He appreciated every facet of the performance, and said, “in terms of costumes, and set, and choreography, (Shen Yun) is fabulous.”

The Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra particularly held his attention.

“To hear the Chinese instruments and music blended in with a symphony orchestra is pretty incredible,” he explained. “Compared to other shows I’ve seen all over the world, I'd say it’s pretty spectacular.”

Shen Yun’s website says, “Is it possible for the disparate sounds of East and West to find harmony? Many have tried and failed. But the ability to seamlessly blend these two systems to create one fresh, harmonious sound is what makes the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra unique.”

‘Spiritual side’

Mr. Busby was quite taken by what he referred to as the “spiritual side” of the performance, and seeing the story-based dances set in the time of different dynasties and even present day China.

Shen Yun’s website talks about some of the spiritual connection of the performance.

“For them, this spiritual connection is motivation for striving to excel, is the heart behind each movement of the dancer and each note of the musician. It is why audiences can feel there is something different about Shen Yun. Their source of inspiration, rooted in traditional Chinese culture, is the spiritual discipline known as Falun Dafa.”

Mr. Busby experienced mixed feelings during the show,“Fabulous that we’re seeing it, and impressed by the traditional dance, but sort of feeling for the Chinese people. A fair portion of them are still under the influence of people that really don’t want to see free expression,” he said, referring to the suppression Chinese people are faced with in today’s China.

He added that the show would “bring up feelings, and people will realize what the Chinese people are dealing with and have dealt with, but also, the cultural side of them, which in many ways is a much higher level of cultural development than the West.”

Reporting by Albert Roman and Cheryl Casati

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