“What I like is it illustrates a culture that most people don’t realize exists within China,” Preston said. “Everybody sees just the communist structure. So there’s no depth coming out of the communist regime as far as explaining what the culture is, especially in different regions of the country.”

“The communist regime just wants to demonstrate just one mantra,” he said. “It’s destroying the culture, the uniqueness of the different regions and everything. It’s trying to institute a certain plain message.”

Sharing similar feelings were Dave Dooling, his wife Claudia Powell, and their friend Hannah Davis.

They shared the belief that the New York-based Shen Yun’s mission of reviving Chinese culture and civilization is important.

“It’s good they’re reviving it. So many cultures are getting just washed away,” Dooling said.

“Particularly these days. It’s critical that things are saved before they’re gone forever,” Powell added.

The Plaza Theatre welcomed a full house for the evening performance, despite the pandemic. Powell shared that sometimes being with people is better than being isolated.

“As far as being together with this many people—sometimes I think this many people together is more healing than not together,” she said.

“This lady has been before, and so she said that we had to come and see this,” Powell said, indicating Davis. “And I’m so happy that she insisted that we come and see this because I’ve had such a wonderful time. It’s so exquisitely beautiful,” Powell said.

Davis indicated she wanted to attend more Shen Yun performances.

“I’ve been studying Chinese culture for years and I have many friends from China, and seeing these performances brings me closer to the culture and my friends,” Davis said. “So I’m really glad that they started doing this all those many years ago. So hopefully, I get to keep coming back to every show,” she added.