ORLANDO, Florida–New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts brought traditional Chinese culture and provided an experience of sublime beauty, as the company touched down briefly the night of June 30 at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre.

The mayor of Altamonte Springs, a beautiful suburb of Orlando, Patricia Bates, was full of appreciation: “Wow, two and a half hours, but as it turned out, it went by way too fast. I wasn’t done yet. I needed to see more. It was phenomenal—everybody, the orchestra, the voices were excellent—such a range of voices!

"And of course the dancers were amazing. I still want to know how they twirled those handkerchiefs. That to me is quite impressive.” Young girls twirled and tossed their handkerchiefs with practiced ease, before a verdant landscape in the Handkerchief dance. This is a northeastern folk dance. “I am so glad I got to see it. The Handkerchiefs dance really did get me,” she said. “I don’t understand how they threw them and they came back to them. I kept thinking there had to be a trick, but there was no trick. They were just excellent.

“But, I think every dance was unique … [The dancers] were phenomenal. I thought, gee, I wonder if there was a day I ever could have done that?”

The music intrigued her. “Excellent music. I’ve heard Chinese music before, but this was so different ... This [music] was unique. It just brought a whole different light to Chinese culture as far as I’m concerned. I really didn’t know about this type of dance ... so I was, I was in awe."

The show brought out Mayor Bates’ warm heart as she said: “I felt for the Chinese people because I know that this show brought out some of the problems going on there and some of the things that people are having to deal with there. It bothers me, because everybody should be able to do what they want to do. This show should be able to be seen by Chinese people. But it really brought to light problems that we don’t really hear about. I think they keep it in China, and we don’t hear about it, but this was a real lesson for … all of us to realize how lucky we are.”

With reporting by Jada Yeung.

Shen Yun Performing Arts will next perform in Houston, followed by five cities in California: Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Francisco, all in July.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. For more information, please visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org

Original article: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/38412/