COLUMBIA, S.C.—Dr. Leigh Sheridan a veterinarian and former professional ballet dancer says everyone should come see Shen Yun Performing Arts. “I love it. It’s beautiful. …. They were wonderful. The dancers are just gorgeous, really beautiful.”

Shen Yun, based in New York, began this the vision of reviving traditional and divinely inspired culture to the world. Thus, through music and dance, the company depicts legends, myths and values from 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

Dr. Sheridan danced with the Columbia City Ballet and went on to perform overseas in Germany before committing herself to her second career as a veterinarian at the Columbia Cat Clinic.

”The costumes are stunning. Every time the curtain came up my mouth dropped open. The costumes are just so beautiful,” Dr. Sheridan said.

Shen Yun’s colorful costumes, hundreds of them, are all handmade and designed anew for each new season.

“I loved the interplay between the screen in the background and the dancers,” Dr. Sheridan said. She was referring to the digitally animated backdrops that make the dancers seem like they fly through the air and then land as real fairies, gods and other divine beings.

“I think that’s so clever and well done,” she said.

“Throughout history almost every culture looked toward the Divine for inspiration. Art was meant to uplift, bringing joy to both the people who created it and experienced it. It is this principal that drives Shen Yun performers and their art,” as stated on the Shen Yun website.

“The music is amazing, Ah, it’s wonderful all around,” Sheridan added.

She explained that she saw a lot of ballet, and so noticed the exciting differences between Shen Yun’s classical Chinese dance and ballet, especially noting the demanding technical aspects like flips, spins, and leaps.

At the core of every Shen Yun show are the spectacular large-scale dances In the large ensemble pieces, it takes dozens and dozens of hours to synchronize the dancers’ movements so they appear to be moving as one entity on stage. The dancers selected for Shen Yun must practice their basic skills and stay in top form year-round in order to keep up with the rigors of classical Chinese dance as well as Chinese ethic and folk dance, according to Shen Yun’s website.

Sheridan added, “It gorgeous. Everyone come see it.”

Reporting by NTD Television and Frank Xie and Denise Darcel

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