DETROIT—When the Everlys tried to purchase tickets to Shen Yun Performing Arts last year, they discovered there was only one single ticket left, and the couple wouldn’t have been able to see it together. This year, James and Helen Everly purchased the tickets as a Christmas gift and attended the opening night performance at the Detroit Opera House on Feb. 7.

Mr. Everly said he was watching “to see the seamless lines between, from one movement to the next, enjoy watching how it flows from one thing to the next. Using their arms, using their body, using their legs.”

“I really enjoyed watching that,” he said. “I thought they had really good skill. I wouldn’t be able to do some of the things that they were doing. I really enjoyed watching it.”

Also moved by the dancers were Joshua and Christina Heath. Mr. Heath, a mortgage broker, said during the performance he let himself be “lost in the choreography.”

“It was just, I mean, amazing,” she said. “It gave a very graceful and beautiful elegance. It made me feel very tranquil and at peace.”

“It just made you feel good and like you wanted to be a part of it,” she said.