FRANKFURT—On the afternoon of Feb. 9, the New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts gave its sixth and final performance in Frankfurt am Main. Not everyone who hoped to see the performance managed to get one of the coveted tickets. Some tried their luck with a sign that read “Ticket Wanted.”

Many viewers have already decided that they want to be there again next year when the world’s leading classical Chinese dance company performs. One of them is EU parliamentarian Michael Gahler, who experienced Shen Yun before.

“Like every year, it was a very diverse and colorful event that represented the full diversity of Chinese and minority cultures. And that’s why it was very impressive—of course also the special aspect that highlights the political persecution that unfortunately takes place in China, in a dosage that is acceptable to the audience, I would say,” Mr. Gahler said.

“It is important to cultivate this diversity and not try to standardize it, as the communist leadership is trying to do in many areas, especially in culture,” he said.

In many cultures, the question of where humans come from is seen as divinely inspired. And this aspect is also beautifully presented in Shen Yun, he thought.

“In many religions [...] there are many basic principles, the good that people should respect each other, that you should tell the truth and not lie, and the whole leniency, of course, when people make mistakes,” Mr. Gahler said. “People are imperfect and you should also be able to recognize your mistakes and forgive others.”

Mr. Gahler regrets that the ensemble is repeatedly subjected to attacks. He noted that it was a peaceful practice that was “permitted or even supported in China until 1999.” Indeed, the practice became so popular that official counts estimated 1 in 13 Chinese had taken up the practice in the mid 1990s.

“And when there were apparently too many, the communist rulers became afraid, and since then they have been persecuted, similar to the Uyghurs, similar to the Tibetans, similar to the civil rights activists in Hong Kong,” Mr. Gahler added.

“Beautiful, wonderful, enchanting,” MS. Rath-Detterbeck said.

She was impressed by the dance technique and choreography as well as the special stage technology and the colorful costumes.

“I am interested in cultural things, in events, and have a connection to Chinese culture because I have a Chinese spiritual master. And whenever something like that happens, I have to be there,” Ms. Rath-Detterbeck said.

“It is important for the soul. For the soul and for joy and for peace and for harmony, for everything. For further development, for the personality, for the community, for everything. It is fundamental. For upbringing, for education, for everything,” she said.

“You knew beforehand what was going to happen. But when you looked at the stage with concentration, you could understand it one-to-one, both through the music and especially through the movement,” Ms. Rath-Detterbeck said.

Shen Yun touched her heart, said Ms. Rath-Detterbeck–in general and especially through a love story, and a story-based dance that addressed the Chinese Communist Party’s organ harvesting from Falun Dafa practitioners.

“For me, it is a joy that in these times this culture of dance and design is being upheld and passed on. And what also touched me was how the two [emcees] said in front of the stage that this culture cannot be performed in China. I was not aware of that,” she said.

Then she added: “I thought Shen Yun was a normal guest in China because of the Chinese dance and the performers. This is really very, very sad.”