DENVER—Tabitha Lazarte highly prizes dance in her life. She teaches Zumba, the popular fast-paced but sultry Latin dance, used for cardiovascular exercise and weight loss.

But on this night, Feb. 18, Ms. Lazarte chose to see Shen Yun Performing Arts, world leader of classical Chinese dance staged at the Buell Theater.

“I love it. I really liked the dancing a lot … Just how they do everything. Their ability to use their costumes to make the dance. It’s just very flowy and I love, love just watching all the different colors and costumes. It’s just really fun.”

“Through the universal languages of music and dance, the New York-based Shen Yun brings 5,000 years of Chinese civilization to life. Each year Shen Yun presents an entirely new production with orchestral accompaniment,” the company website reads.

Nick Macris, a chef, accompanied Ms. Lazarte to the performance for a second time. He especially liked the Shen Yun Orchestra.

“I think it’s really cool blending East and West together … you’re never going to find it anywhere else,” he said.

“Ancient Chinese instruments such as the soul-stirring erhu and the delicate pipa lead the melody in a unique blending of a full orchestra of Western strings, percussion, woodwinds, and brass,” according to Shen Yun’s website.

Ms. Lazarte said she would urge her friends to come see Shen Yun for themselves.

“It’s a really unique show that you don’t really see very often, and it makes you feel good.”

She was touched by the story-based dance ”The Steadfast Lotus, which tells the story of a mother who is arrested for practicing Falun Dafa (also known as Falun Gong), with its core principles of truth, compassion, and tolerance.

“In addition to daring to bring spirituality front and center, the main risk that Shen Yun takes is in its depicting the ongoing persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese Communist regime,” says the website. “Falun Gong, a practice of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, has been brutally repressed since 1999.”

Because of this, in fact, Shen Yun cannot perform in China, and instead travels the globe with four companies that tour simultaneously.

“I think its [persecution] needs to stop. I don’t think people should be persecuted for what they believe in and [for] trying to bring good to the world,” Ms. Lazarte concluded.

Reporting by Youzhi Ma and Raiatea Tahana-Reese

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.