OMAHA, Neb.—To celebrate January birthdays, Don Kane, and his niece, Breanna Thompson came to see Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Orpheum Theater on Jan. 14.

Mr. Kane, a retired Minnesota fishing resort owner and Korean War veteran, was proud of turning 84 two days earlier and celebrating with his niece. Ms. Thompson, a university student, was also excited to share the evening with her uncle and to see the performance.

Shen Yun was “a way to lighten up a January night, a cold winter night,” said Ms. Thompson.

Both uncle and niece thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun’s journey of 5,000 years of divinely inspired civilization through classical Chinese and ethnic dance, original music performed by a live orchestra, and brightly colored costumes and sets.

“We liked it a lot,” said Mr. Kane. Ms. Thompson agreed: “The performance was colorful and imaginative. It was quite enjoyable,” she said.

They particularly liked the mini-dance drama,Phoenixes of The Sapphire Paradise, where the dancers begin by raising from a misty sky.

“Oh, that was beautiful wasn’t it. What I liked were the costumes, so beautiful really. I thought they were so pretty,” Ms. Thompson said.

“They looked like dancing flowers sometimes,” she said.

Shen Yun made them both feel, “Good! Real good.”

Shen Yun presents classical Chinese dance and music to the world with the aim of revitalizing traditional Chinese culture, the Shen Yun website states.

“All cultures should be revived and kept alive, really, so I thought it was great,” explained Mr. Kane.

“I agree with my Uncle Don. In our Western culture, we don’t really appreciate a lot of Eastern traditions, or stories or myths, and it is a really big world out there. So, its great that there is an avenue where the general public can go and get a sense of it.”

Both would recommend Shen Yun to family and friends. “I would say they should come and see it. I really enjoyed it. … I loved it.”

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.