“Beautiful. I love the spirituality, the beauty, tradition, discipline, and the humility. And it was ancient and fresh and beautiful. I was very appreciative of it. It spoke to my heart,” Mr. Leone said.

“I love those themes of recovering from sin, recovering from things that destroy you. I just think that there’s a spiritual application to that, how we’re selfish … we’ve become too greedy. We don’t share with others, and then it destroys us,” Mr. Leone observed.

“That was beautiful. The women in the peacock dance—just a sense of discipline and beauty. And it just shows you that beauty is a careful, disciplined thing. And I really loved all of that,” Mr. Leone said.

Shen Yun uses Classical Chinese dance to tell stories from China’s five millennia. Its dance stories also portray the modern true story of Falun Dafa practitioners being persecuted for their faith in China. Falun Dafa is a peaceful practice that teaches the principles of Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

“There was a culture of stealing and theft and violence [in China.] And they were showing the virtue of being a defender of people that couldn’t defend yourself. And I love that theme. It’s the theme of how God’s compassion is. So I love that salvation theme,” Mr. Leone said.

Many audience members have shared a feeling of being transported to a heavenly place when the curtain rises.

“It opens up in the sense that you’re in heaven. I think the beginning of part two, where all the fog came in, it kind of drew you up into more cosmic, heavenly things, and I love that,” Mr. Leone shared.