CANBERRA, Australia—Ai Van Tenty, a former ballerina from Vietnam, said destiny brought her to Shen Yun’s evening performance on March 6 at the Canberra Theatre.

“This is so exciting. I’m so excited from the performance—a dancer understands. It’s amazing what they did. This is not [of this world,] this is something like in the heavens, in the sky. Excellent.”

Prior to the regime’s spread of atheism, the teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism were indelible parts of Chinese life. Shen Yun’s goal is to share with everyone, the beauty of China before communism.

“There are the movements and technique, but it’s not only this. [The performance] has soul and something very human—they want to give love to everybody. They give something,” she expressed.

“Everybody will go home [from the performance] and they’ll say, ‘Oh, life is wonderful. Keep going.’ Of course, there is sometimes suffering in life, but we are humans in this world. [It’s wonderful] how, in Australia, I could see this. This is a gift from God or Buddha.”

“It’s like meditation in the audience with everybody sitting there. I watched not only the stage but also the people. It’s very interesting, this energy,” she added.

If she could, Ms. Tenty would like to go directly onto the stage to give a huge thanks to all the dancers, choreographers, and composers for everything they did.

“I will share this with my friends. I will tell them this is an amazing performance, and you have to go to see it and spend your money on this,” Ms. Tenty added.

“I think it’s ok if somebody says it’s expensive, but not for me. I’m [willing to] spend because I think it’s really good. It’s not about money here—it’s about something higher.”