DENVER—Lisa Cole and Brad Hulstrom saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on April 12, 2026, at The Buell Theatre.

“The show was fabulous. The music was fantastic, the costumes were amazing, the storytelling was so believable, so expressive. The projection and the interaction with it was outstanding, just breathtaking,” said Ms. Cole, a music teacher and music director.

Shen Yun, based in New York, is on a mission to present “China before communism,” and revive people’s connection with 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture.

Shen Yun’s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.

“There are no words [to describe] how they are so skilled and so graceful and so beautiful,” Mr. Hulstrom said.

“The supreme being coming down—the divine. Answering their prayers, preparing people, punishing the bad ones, that whole dynamic,” Mr. Hulstrom said.

“It was great. They were perfectly in sync with everything. The dynamics were amazing. The highs, the lows, the emotion came through the instruments beautifully,” Ms. Cole said.

One instrument that shone under the spotlight was the two-stringed erhu.

“The solo of the two-string instrument is beautiful, unique. We don’t get to see that very often. It was breathtakingly beautiful,” Ms. Cole said.

“Fabulous. What a voice. The resonance was gorgeous, beautiful. The pianist was fantastic,” Ms. Cole said.

“I really liked it. I would have liked to sit through it again. And then the narrators were hilarious. I really like the narrators, too,” Mr. Hulstrom said.