FORT MYERS, Fla.—“I thought it was lovely—wonderful music, beautiful dancing, beautiful scenery,” Cheryl Gabey said after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers. “Certainly a very good example of a culture.”

“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,” reads Shen Yun’s website.

Dr. Gabey, a retired Educational Administrator, attended the performance with Jerry Strohmenger, a retired engineering manager at Ford Motor Co.

“I enjoyed it very much!” Mr. Strohmenger said. “It was just an interesting presentation. Number one of [Chinese] culture.”

The performance embodies the potential to help people become more compassionate, according to Dr. Gabey, so that “the world would be in a much better place.”

Dr. Gabey studied ballet in the past, and she felt that Shen Yun’s display of classical Chinese dance “was extremely well done.”

“I really like the way the women look like they were just floating across the stage. That was perfect, lovely,” she said.

“And it gives you insight into a part of the world we don’t know that much about,” Mr. Strohmenger added. However, it’s just that part of the world where Shen Yun cannot perform, although it tours the globe, performing for millions each year.

“Over its past 60 years of rule, the communist regime has treated traditional Chinese values, centered on the idea of harmony between heaven and earth, as a threat to its existence,” according to Shen Yun’s website.

“Well, that’s really a shame that they cannot go back to their native country,” Dr. Gabey said. “I mean, if we had to go outside of the United States and were not able to come back into our native country, we would be most disappointed.”

Reporting by Edie Bassn and Michael Fitzgerald

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.