NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.—The new year brought Shen Yun Performing Arts to South Carolina, where Shen Yun put on its first of two performances on Jan. 2.

Frank Iler, the representative for Brunswick County in North Carolina to the State House of Representatives, was in the audience this evening.

“I’m very anti-communist. It didn’t take long for me to understand that. As a child, I always wanted to go to China. Today, I would not go. I never got to go, but I would not try to go today because of the politics in China,” Mr. Iler said.

“I think the classical performances, the classical traditions there are fantastic,” he said.

“It did point to God, and we all have different ideas of what God is. But it’s very good. It’s excellent, the way it brought out the divine creation and the traditions,” Mr. Iler said.

Also in the audience, this evening was Debbie Smith, mayor of the small beach town of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.

“It was absolutely wonderful, beautiful. The movements, the dance, you could tell they’re very practiced and very talented and obviously dedicated artists in their field,” Ms. Smith said.

“I would say it was very touching. Made you think about a lot of things, life, how you should live, how you should not live,” Ms. Smith said.

“I would say [the performance] was five-star, and I would highly recommend it to anyone,” she said.