NANTES, France—On Friday, Feb. 15, a large audience of lovers of the performing arts and culture gathered at the Cité des Congrès in Nantes, France.

For the third consecutive year, Nantes, the City on the Loire River, celebrated traditional Chinese culture with the presentation of the prestigious dance and music company, Shen Yun Performing Arts.

New York-based Shen Yun played to a sold-out audience all weekend and the spectators discovered the cultural and ethnic richness of China’s 5000-year history.

Vincent Bony, partner and co-founder of AC&EC in Vertou, and his wife Pascale, a bank employee, were among the spectators.

Pascale Bony said she was impressed by Shen Yun’s music, which she said was magnificent because it “really reflects Chinese culture.”

Vincent Bony loved the shimmering colors of the dancers’ traditional costumes, evocative of the numerous Chinese ethnic groups or the many dynasties which succeeded one another, bringing with them their culture and clothing style.

But “harmony” is what touched the couple the most.

Vincent Bony emphasized that “everything is calibrated together, and one cannot go without the other... it is rather a harmony of the whole: music, art and dance.”

Indeed, according to Pascale Bony, not only were the colors of the costumes are in perfect harmony with the majestic landscapes displayed in the digital background but there was a perfect synchronization of the dancers with the music of the orchestra.

Pascale Bony said she wanted to “congratulate the choreographers” and “praise the work of both musicians and dancers,” moved as she was by the quality of the artists’ training.

“We realize how much hard work this involves,” she said.

Pascale Bony said that for Westerners, Shen Yun allows them to discover the authentic Chinese culture, and the history. It is “a journey through dances,” she said.

But beyond the visual and aesthetic aspect, Pascale Bony has discovered something else with Shen Yun.

She was interested in “the form of meditation” she saw in the stories. Indeed, as spirituality is inseparable from the daily life of Chinese people in their traditional culture, Shen Yun’s artists perpetuate this tradition in their practicing of meditation.

According to Shen Yun’s website, the artists believe that art is mean to uplift and inspire, and this is what drives their performers. “Their source of inspiration, rooted in traditional Chinese culture, is the spiritual discipline known as Falun Dafa,” the website states.

According to Pascale Bony, this spiritual aspect is an essential element of Shen Yun’s show: “ I think that in the world in which we live, we also need to get closer to the divine to keep our feet on the ground and do good around us. I will also take with me from the show, this beauty and the need perhaps today to get closer to others.”