ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.—Louis De Palma, a chiropractor, and Heather Simmons, a former ballet dancer, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Duke Energy Center for the Arts’ Mahaffey Theater on Jan. 19.

“Everything was just spectacular,” Mr. De Palma said. “I couldn’t really separate any of it saying one was better than the other. It was all so synchronized and so lovely ... The costumes were just gorgeous. Just stunning.”

New York-based Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Since its inception in 2006, Shen Yun’s mission has been to revive traditional Chinese culture and show audiences the beauty of China before communism.

“The backdrop and the graphics, when it popped up the first time, it was really just kind of cool because I’ve never seen a show do it like that,” Ms. Simmons said.

“The backdrop, that was amazing,” he said. “I don’t know how they did that, but it was spectacular.”

“It’s so sad,” Mr. De Palma said. “I think what [Shen Yun is] doing is just amazing. I think you should keep the message going.”

“It’s all about love, and it’s lovely to experience love through your culture. Each culture has its own way of sharing that love, and it was just beautiful what they presented, because you could really get a feel of the spirituality with the love,” he said.

Ms. Simmons said that the spiritual message she saw in the performance was that “we’re all connected, and we need to live our lives that way.”

“The choreography was wonderful,” she said. “It was a flawless performance.”

“It was just great,” she added. “I'll come back next year.”