AUGUSTA, Ga.—Retired family attorneys Lisa Marban and Helen Flanagan watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center on Feb. 17.

“It was fantastic,” said Ms. Flanagan. “We loved it.”

“It was spectacular,” said Ms. Marban. “I’ve never seen colors that bright in my entire life, and I’ve never seen people move like that my entire life.”

“I think it was fascinating,” said Ms. Flanagan. “The dance movements, they make it look so simple and easy, but it’s very intricate and [has a] very high degree of difficulties. … We were all very impressed—just the energy itself was great.”

“I want to know how they did that,” said Ms. Marban. “That was pretty fascinating.”

Shen Yun also performs with a live orchestra, which is unique because it combines traditional Chinese and Western instruments. One of the Chinese instruments is the erhu, a two-stringed instrument that can express a wide range of emotions. Ms. Flanagan said that she enjoyed the erhu solo.

“That two-stringed instrument was fantastic,” said Ms. Marban. “The mood that she was able to capture with something so simple … you could feel the emotion just with her playing that one simple instrument.”

Ms. Marban felt that the vivid colors in Shen Yun gave the performance an otherworldly touch.

“I have been reading about heaven a lot lately, and they talk about all the brilliant colors in heaven that you just can’t describe it,” Ms. Marban shared. “When I was sitting there, I kind of felt like that’s what I had read about in the book.”

Both Ms. Marban and Ms. Flanagan said that Shen Yun was a performance they would recommend to the people around them.

“The whole thing was wonderful,” said Ms. Marban. “I really and truly didn’t know what to expect when I came here. It was beyond expectation. … I would even come back and see it.”

“We’ll come again next year, definitely,” said Ms. Flanagan.