Mauro Poggia, a Swiss senator, said, “I think it’s good to have human values coming back, especially in the times we’re living in right now ... it’s good to have values that are expressed in this way.”

“You can feel that it’s very ancient, that it brings with it thousands of years of history,” said Magali Orsini, a former politician. “It’s charged with emotion that is truly rooted in history.”

Yves Garnier, a professional dancer, said Shen Yun was “very graceful. For the girls, it’s quite extraordinary technically. For the boys, the jumps in the air are breathtaking.”

“The persecution of this tradition, these people who want to live their culture, which was swept away by the Chinese Communist government. Yes, it’s touching because it’s true that we’re talking about a 5,000-year-old history, a 5,000-year-old culture, which has been somewhat minimized to a 50-year history,” Najib Arayer, a hotel manager, said.

“With everything we see, everything that is happening in the world today, I think that a moment of peace, calm, and a message of love and peace is very, very important today.”

Shen Yun simultaneously tours the world with eight different companies, bringing an all new performance each year. Each performance highlights themes of spirituality, faith, and kindness—values found at the heart of traditional Chinese culture.

“I think we learn a lot about the history of humanity from legends and elsewhere, and so we always come out winners. And of course, we learn,” Martine Grigis, a chief medical officer, said. “There were some unexpected comical moments, especially some very beautiful scenes, lots of colors with big ribbons everywhere, and hope.”