PORTLAND, Maine—Energy executive Richard Ladroga and his guest, Sylvia Cheever, enjoyed a matinee of Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Merrill Auditorium on Feb. 26.

He said he likes the people very much, but does not favor communism. “It crushed good people.”

“Here you get to see people being alive and not restricted and being beautiful. To me, this is the beauty and the essence of China, what we are seeing here in Shen Yun. I love it.”

He said he loves classical music and deep feelings emerged. He felt “very emotional. You can tell that there is a lot of dynamics in the presentation. It rises it falls; it matches the performance. You can tell that all the dancers and the musicians are very, very well trained and practiced. Very good.”

“I think it’s really good, to share the culture and have people see what’s really going on that the media doesn’t show.”

As this was his first time seeing Shen Yun, Mr. Ingendahl was happy to see another culture for himself. “I really like experiencing different cultures and seeing the real culture, and not just what people show you on TV. I want to see it first-hand.”

“[There are] so many wonderful stories’ There is a broad mixture of everything that is going on,“ he said. ”Every piece is a new story.”

As for the suppression of the Chinese people by the Chinese Communist Party, Mr. Ingendahl said, “I think it’s very sad.”

“You should be able to express yourself in any type of artwork or dance. You know it’s all very important to the human soul.”

“The most I can do is keep supporting shows like this.”

Mr. Ingendahl was inspired and would take home from the performance with him “knowledge. Truth. And the real views of the Chinese people, and the history of it all.”