TEMPE, Ariz.—“It’s a feast of light and sound and movement that you can immerse yourself into for two hours, like never before,” said retired Superior Court Judge Jim Maddock. “Just a marvelous show.”

Mr. Maddock attended Shen Yun Performing Arts’ New York Company at the ASU Gammage Theater on March 8 with his wife, Joyce Maddock, a retired nurse.

“I can only think of one [English] word to describe it: awesome,” said Mrs. Maddock.

Mr. Maddock practiced law as an attorney in Port Orchard, Wash., until 1977 when he became Superior Court Judge, serving until he retired in 1994. Both Mr. and Mrs. Maddock love the theater, and Mr. Maddock sings with a men’s chorus at retirement community Wesley Homes.

They spend four months every winter in the Phoenix area of Arizona and were happy to be able to see Shen Yun there.

“[It] ran the whole gamut, from joy to sadness,” said Mr. Maddock. “I wept during part of it. It just touched me at all levels.”

Shen Yun is based in New York and has four different touring companies. Every year the companies “travel for about six months, performing in some 20 countries and over 100 cities,” according to Shen Yun’s website.

“A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops—together creating one spectacular performance,” says the website.

“It really touched my heart and my soul,” said Mrs. Maddock. “I felt the music, I felt the songs, the singing. The staging was absolutely fantastic.”

The interactive backdrops that complemented the dances were fascinating to Mr. and Mrs. Maddock.

“The blend of the images on the screen with the dancers, it was seamless,” said Mr. Maddock.

“I have never seen anything like that before,” said Mrs. Maddock.

Shen Yun’s dancers sometimes use props such as drums or even chopsticks to add rhythm and interest to the dances. Mrs. Maddock very much enjoyed this aspect of the performance.

“I loved the excitement of the drumming—and the beauty and the flowing dances,” said Mrs. Maddock. “And of course the Buddha coming out, that was special.”

“China was once known as Shen Zhou—The Divine Land,” says Shen Yun’s website. In 2006, the company was established with the mission “to revive the true, divinely inspired culture of China and share it with the world.”

Mr. and Mrs. Maddock particularly enjoyed the spiritual values shared within the performance.

“The compassion, the joy,” said Mrs. Maddock. “The peace.”

“We can live in peace, we can,” said Mr. Maddock. “And that’s what the Buddha teaches.”

Reporting by NTD Television and Sarah Le

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.