PASADENA,Calif.--Proud of his ancestral ties, Mr. Amini was elated to be at the Divine Performing Arts New Year presentation held at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on the afternoon of Jan. 3, repeating the show that was one of the best he had ever seen.

"Fabulous. Well, it's an ancient culture. We came from an ancient culture also. I'm Iranian and Persian. We enjoyed it very much. It's one of the best shows I've ever seen."

The management systems analyst for a law firm couldn't choose a performance that was above the rest.

"Each individual program was good. Not just a single one of them; all of them were good."

His wife, a figure painting artist, and their son were with him at the show.

Mrs. Amini said her favorite aspect was the scenic background. "The colors inspired me very much. And I think in my recent painting, I create in my mind ... this helps me very much to create more light colors. That makes it a very delightful view. [In this show] the dances and background match each other very much. Spiritually, I'm so happy. Spiritually, it made me so happy. In my mind I have some kind of happiness."

Mr. Amini said he thought the presentation was done in such a way that each theme carried a message.

"We got the message. The message is happiness, and bringing happiness and joy to everybody. And it's an excellent view of life itself. ... It's one of the best shows I've ever seen. Performers, especially the colors of their costumes, the colors of the background, music. It's excellent."

Both agreed they "absolutely" saw similarities between the Chinese and their own traditional culture.

Establishing connection between the two cultures, Mr. Amini said; "We came from the same culture. Actually, you can say that, because thousands of years ago, we traded with [each] other. Our cultures have interacted with each other; we're in the same background. We came from a Chinese culture like the Chinese do. We understand each other perfectly. We came from an ancient culture that has been built over thousands of years. It's not new. So spiritually we're more strongly bonded together. Especially people from the East have more value of life itself, the family and the people. We are from the same culture and we respect each other. We respect the Chinese and the culture of the world."

Mr. Amini said he hopes someday to see China.