CHICAGO—“I loved it,” said photographer Joe Pouwels. “A lot of work went to it. In fact I was looking at it from a photographer’s standpoint, a lot of emotion goes into the whole [dance].Very, very impressed,” he said after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts.

Mr. Pouwels and his wife saw the classical Chinese music and dance company on April 2, its opening night in the Windy City. Its five-performance run until April 5 is at Chicago’s Civic Opera House, the home of the Lyric Opera.

Shen Yun, based in New York, tours over 100 cities in 20 countries with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“I loved it, it was very nice,” said Mr. Pouwels, who was treating his wife to a birthday present.

At the heart of Shen Yun is classical Chinese dance, one of the most challenging and expressive dance systems in the world. Classical Chinese dances in combination with Chinese folk dances comprise the 20 or so short pieces that make up the evening.

“I liked the digital background,” he said about the animation that seemed to interact with the onstage performers.

“Shen Yun’s digital-backdrop team creates vividly animated settings, extending the stage and transporting the audience to a world where heaven and earth are one,” states the company’s website.

Shen Yun offers Chicago a chance to widen their cultural horizons, and “to understand more of the Chinese culture,” he said.

Reporting by Stacey Tang and Sharon Kilarski

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