MESA, Ariz.—Artist Tina LaRea attended the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Ikeda Theater at the Mesa Arts Center on March 12 and appreciated the artistry. LaRea, an oil painter who specializes in classical realist still lifes, loved the “life principles that we can live by: … compassion, remembering your history, and bringing forward the good.” New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts aims to bring back China’s 5,000 years of culture to the modern stage—through story-based dance and music. In one dance about a woman’s heart being organ-harvested, LaRea said, “[There are] things from Heaven that can’t be stolen. The heart can’t be stolen from someone and given to somebody else. It was very moving for me.” She said the message was relevant today. “I think the relevance of this is compassion. We may not believe in the same religious doctrines—if we would just get rid of the doctrine and love one …