NEW YORK—The curtain rose Saturday evening at Lincoln Center to a treat for theatergoers, a new performance from Shen Yun Performing Arts for 2015.

Shen Yun is a New York-based, independent performing arts company whose mission is to revive traditional Chinese culture.

For audience members intrigued by China, the performance was a rare opportunity.

“To me, it gives me a window to the culture of China,” said Ted DelValle, a lawyer who has his own firm. “What makes me excited is how rich the Chinese culture is.”

“I’m beside myself!” said Mr. DelValle’s wife, Claudia DelValle, who is a former paralegal. “I’m sorry that I didn’t bring my kids.”

Every year, Shen Yun creates an all-new production and invites audiences to “explore the wonders of this lost world together,” according to the program book.

Mr. DelValle said it was a shame that thousands of years of existence could not be freely expressed in China today, due to censorship.

“The dance interprets how people want to live,” he said. “It reaches my heart.”

Mr. DelValle referred to a piece in the show in particular, The Power of Compassion, which depicts Falun Gong practitioners in contemporary China, following the spiritual principles of truthfulness, compassion and forbearance. The practice is persecuted in China today.

In the piece, Communist Party policemen attack the meditators, and while doing so, one policeman slips and hurts his knee. He is then helped by practitioners who teach him the meditative exercises.

“Even though the individual was very aggressive, they showed him that compassion can overtake all this [violence]”, said Mr. DelValle.

Mrs. DelValle said the performance mesmerized her and was “food for the soul.”

Ultimately, at the end of the evening, Mr. and Mrs. DelValle were left with a sense of upright honesty, tolerance, and compassion.

Accountant Gets a Feel for the True Chinese Culture

Mr. Paul Rudnitsky, a certified public accountant and partner at a law firm, also attended the performance with his wife and a friend. He would recommend Shen Yun because people can “get a feel for what the Chinese culture was like many years ago.”

The performance captures ancient Chinese culture that no longer exists in modern China, currently under communist rule. According to Shen Yun’s website, China was once known as the Celestial Empire and its glorious culture was said to have been brought down from the heavens.

Reporting by Sherry Dong, NTD Television, Weiyong, and Shannon Liao

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.