“I just liked the tradition—being from a fairly traditional culture myself. We, as Irish, delve back into our own traditions very, very much since the 50s, particularly with the music and the dances.

“So I like the tradition of what I see here tonight and bringing it back to where it was the same show that may have been on a Chinese stage a thousand years ago without a whole lot of changes to it. That’s the tradition that this [Shen Yun] maintains and shows to our youth today and keeps it alive. For me that’s the important aspect of it—keeping it alive.”