PHILADELPHIA—Seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts perform at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia on April 25 was a new experience for Paul Leonardi and Roseann Sellani.

“We thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Ms. Sellani, who is an attorney, after watching the performance.

Ms. Sellani said that the dance in the Shen Yun performance was different from anything she and her husband, Mr. Leonardi, had ever seen before. 

“Very graceful and wonderful,” she said. “I thought the colors and costumes were very dramatic, very colorful.”

Shen Yun was founded in New York in 2006 with the mission to revive 5,000 years of divinely inspired Chinese culture. 

The performance features award-winning classical Chinese dancers, a symphony orchestra that is unique in the world in that it combines both classical Western and Eastern instruments, and Shen Yun’s solo singers. 

Since its inception the performing arts company has taken the world by storm, performing for millions of people around the world.

Mr. Leonardi, who is also an attorney, said he enjoyed the dance in the performance. “I loved the patterns that the dancers created on the stage together,” he said.

Mr. Leonardi and Ms. Sellani said they are both very active at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to the Merriam Theater, and got to know about the Shen Yun performance that way.

Reporting by Lily Sun and Jasper Fakkert

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