SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—“I love looking at the center, and all of the synchronization was amazing—the beauty of it,” said Dirk Homeier, after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts Touring Company at Sangamon Auditorium on University of Illinois campus.

Dirk and Sarah Homeier, owners of a bathroom remodeling company, McDonald Luxury and Bath, were impressed with what they saw of the performance on April 8.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revitalize a lost culture, spanning 5,000 years, through dance, music, and song.

At intermission, Mrs. Homeier said, “I am surprised at the deep heritage that I didn’t know that was there. I didn’t expect it to expand [to] 5,000 years. I think it’s very interesting.”

Several of the some 20 dance performances tell of the persecution in China that has been going on for over 10 years of a spiritual meditation group, Falun Dafa.

“I didn’t know that in the last decade, that you can’t meditate in China,” said Mr. Homeier. His wife didn’t know but wasn’t surprised.

It made Mr. Homeier feel sad to learn this. “Sad, I mean in America, you are free to do that, but China, not so.”

“A Shen Yun performance features the world’s foremost classically trained dancers, a unique orchestra blending East and West, and dazzling animated backdrops—together creating one spectacular performance,” says the Shen Yun website.

The couple were impressed with the hundreds of handmade costumes of the dancers as well. They’re “very elegant, their costumes,” Mr. Homeier said.

“It’s amazing … [the dancers’] use of the sleeves that hang down, how they can do the synchronization. It’s amazing,” he said.

“It’s very pretty,” Ms. Homeier said she agreed, “Yeah, it’s very pretty, beautiful.”

The Homeiers felt their children would thoroughly enjoy Shen Yun and, in particular, the dance performance of legendary Ne Zha who is born out of a giant meatball.

“We have seven kids, and we always call them meatballs. Then there was a sword involved as the dancer stabbed the meatball, so my kids love swords and they love meatballs,” he said.

“Yeah with the colors, and everything, they would like it,” Mr. Homeier concluded.

Reporting by Stacey Tang and Cat Rooney

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006