MISSISSAUGA, Canada—In the world of finance, return on investment is paramount, and for one executive at Citigroup, Shen Yun Performing Arts appeared to pay off.

“I liked it very much. It was very good,” said Bashir Gohgari, vice president of relationship management at CitiGroup.

Mr. Gohgari took a moment to share his pleasure at the sights and sounds of the evening after taking in Shen Yun at the Living Arts Centre Saturday night. 

“The orchestra was fantastic, they did an excellent job and the sound was amazing.”

Part of what makes Shen Yun unique is the fact that its orchestra includes Chinese instruments leading the melodies over a Western symphony for a sound that is both familiar and refreshing. 

Another element is that it draws on China’s amazing history for dances that the company describes as mini dramas.

Mr. Gohgari lauded Shen Yun’s ability to tell stories through dance.

“It was really, really well done, extremely well done,” he said.

Shen Yun was founded on a mission to revive 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture, an effort that Mr. Gohgari noted in the performance.

“I definitely saw how they did that within all the different dances and the stories and costumes,” he said.

“The sound and the screens were incredible too, the way they had the graphics playing.”

Those graphics are the work of Shen Yun’s team of visual artists; the graphics find their way on stage with the help of the company’s vividly animated projected backdrops. 

Mr. Gohgari noted the beautiful scenes in the dance “Mongolian Chopsticks,” one of Shen Yun’s enthnic dances portraying Mongolian’s drinking to life in the harsh northern steppes and pulling together to perform a traditional chopstick dance. Dancers use chopsticks to create a crisp staccato beat to quicken the blood.

“The chopsticks performance was quite interesting,” he said. “It was very entertaining, the sounds in the percussion going with the screen in the background was very vibrant, really enjoyed it.” 

With reporting by Quincy Yu

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. Shen Yun’s World Company will perform in Toronto from Jan. 23-26. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

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.