Attending the matinee were IT architect Justin Grainger and his wife Maria, who is a cyber security technologist. Also present were Tabitha Pert, a medical coder, and Justin Pert, an IT systems engineer. The group had a wonderful time.

“I think the show was fascinating. The exposure to Chinese culture through dance and [spirituality] was absolutely fascinating,” Mr. Grainer said. “We were [engrossed] by the performers, the dancing was fantastic, the special effects were great—We really enjoyed it.”

Deeply affected by the depiction of the communist regime’s forced organ harvest from Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. Grainger said it was “a most impactful moment” for him.

“I was really captured in that moment. It was really a heartbreaking moment,” he added.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. It was founded in 2006 by a group of leading Chinese artists who had fled the persecution of the communist party.

“It was very emotional. It’s very striking—what you can get out of just two strings. I really liked that music,” he said.

The erhu is a 4,000-year-old Chinese instrument that mimics the human voice. Though it only has two strings, it is capable of expressing a wide range of emotions that resonate with the profound depths of the human soul.

“You can see that they really loved what they do. The music, the dance, and the facial expressions are things you don’t have to speak the same language to understand, to feel the same thing—you just know we’re all the same,” she said.

For her, Shen Yun offered the audience “a look at history and a look at the heart and beliefs of real Chinese people.”

“It’s [a side of China] that no one else wants us to see, but these are the real people. They deserve to have a voice.”