“The dancing’s great,” said Mr. Kramer. “It … spreads awareness across the country and across the world as they do more and more performances.”

“The culture’s amazing,” said Mr. Kramer. “It’s so rich in history. Just all the dynasties that have come from the Chinese lineage through the ages. It’s pretty amazing.”

Mr. Kramer summarized Shen Yun as “a walk through the history of China.”

“It’s more of an emotional intake rather than a visual. [It’s an] emotional and spiritual intake,” Mr. Kramer said.

Also in the audience was David Chavez, a station manager and international freight forwarder. Mr. Chavez brought his mother, a fan of Chinese culture, to see the performance, but “wound up to be a bigger fan than she was” and said that he could not wait to see Shen Yun again next year.

“I see it in a different light, in a more positive light,” he said. “When I think of China, I think of China post-communism, and it’s not always reflected in the best light for folks in the West. When I see the culture, when I see the costumes, the music, it’s phenomenal. It’s something that I want to learn more about.”

Mr. Chavez felt that Shen Yun’s performance was “very hopeful [and] very uplifting.”

“Some of the stories, I don’t know how old they are that they share with us, but very uplifting stories, very heartfelt stories, and it gives a very positive outlook both for China and the human spirit overall.”

“The human spirit unfortunately can be negative at times. So to see a show that portrays some of the negativity but in the end shows an uplifting spirit and how we can conquer that negativity, and put [it] to beautiful music and beautiful choreographies, it’s wonderful.”