NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey—Sunday June 20 saw Shen Yun Performing Arts put on the first of two glorious shows at the State Theatre. The New York-based company's vision of a cultural renaissance for China's 5,000-year-old culture is blossoming and flourishing with each performance.

Alexey Ozerov manages a transportation company in New York and was accompanied to Shen Yun by his wife Eleina Ozerova. The couple enjoyed learning more of China's ancient culture and traditional values through classical Chinese dance and music.

Mr. Ozerov appreciated the dancing and the solo performances. He described the unique costumes as wonderful and very colorful.

He was impressed the overall diversity of the performance, commenting: "It's great that it's like a flower. There's different parts, there’s the concert, the combination of different things together."

Ms. Ozerova particularly enjoyed the dance called Flowing Silk. "It's like real water, what they were doing with their long sleeves. It looked like real fountains," she enthused.

This piece showcases a favorite element of classical Chinese dance known as "water sleeves". The ladies use their softly billowing silken sleeves to create images of rippling water.
'Very impressive'

Tom is an engineer and attended Shen Yun with Tran Quan who is a director of business development. They both thought the show was excellent.

"Very impressive. A great combination of culture, music and dance," said Tom.

Tran particularly appreciated the beautiful setting and thought the choreography was amazing.

The digital backdrops are designed to match the dancers' costumes and choreography, helping to interpret the stories and adding yet another artistic dimension to the show.

"I think it's really beautiful in general and the dancers are very talented, and the whole thing is just amazing," she added.

Tom commented, "I really enjoyed the portrayal of the great cultural stories from the past—I really enjoyed that."

Two of the dances depict the gentle courage and conviction of Falun Gong practitioners in the face of persecution by the communist regime in China. Falun Dafa is a meditative practice based upon a set of exercises and being a good person.

Tom said he was also impressed by the show's emphasis on freedom of expression.

With reporting by Gary Du.

Shen Yun will travel on to Providence, RI, for two evening performances of June 26 and 27. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/37747/