HOUSTON—Wayne Talley, assistant vice president of Waldemar S. Nelson and Company, had been researching traditional Chinese culture just before seeing it come to life on stage with his wife, Janet Talley, Saturday afternoon at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston on Dec. 28.

“[It’s] really like this, a lot of it,” Mr. Talley said, excited to see the depth of detail put into showing Chinese history by New York-based Shen Yun.

He noted that in Tang Imperial Drummers, male dancers play the drums against the backdrop of a Tang Dynasty battlefield outside the palace walls. The piece is majestic, but it also showed many layers of information through the dance.

“They used to intimidate the enemy by the number of drummers,” Mr. Talley said. “But you see tens and thousand of drummers, but not just on the stage—so that was really great.”

The Chinese culture is said to be inspired by the heavens, and for Mr. Talley, the divine came through in the performance. Shen Yun showed the relationship between the earthly beings and the heavens, he said.

“Shen Yun is trying to revive the lost tradition in China,” Mrs. Talley added, noting that the performance left her feeling both peaceful and excited.

“You just take in all the beauties on the stage,” Mr. Talley said. “China is rich in tradition.”

Reporting by Sarah Guo and Catherine Yang.

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.