“I found it fantastic. It was very artistic. … It was inspiring and beautiful and very impactful. I leave having a really good impression of the real Chinese culture.”

“It gave me a sense of being in Heaven. It’s spiritual and deep in that way. … I think art and beauty in Western culture are seen as spiritual. It’s the ideal—Plato. So I think it was all there [in Shen Yun]. It was beautiful, especially the way the women were [dancing]—this beauty and purity, and the way they were floating. It was really beautiful.”

“The music is fantastic. That instrument with the two strings [the erhu] touches a different part of you. It’s a different tone that I’m used to hearing. It touches something deep within. [I felt] joy, happiness, bliss. It has a really good tone. Beautiful and classical. It’s traditional, so you feel you’re connected to something that is old and permanent, especially in this world that’s changing all the time. That was very inspiring.”

“The song about finding your true self, I think that is the core of all religion and spirituality. So I think the text [lyrics] shows that we can get lost and we can find our way back and that is the goal. We come from somewhere and then we’re born here and then we find our way back to where we came from. ... I agree with that personally. I found that very inspiring.”

“I feel personally inspired to be a better person. The purity in the dance, … it inspires you to be better, be something more, be something at a different level, a higher self, a better self.”