HOUSTON—Shen Yun Performing Arts was nothing short of a masterpiece, according to Olga Porter, an artist who had longed to see a performance for years.

“It’s perfection,” said Ms. Porter at the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts on Dec. 26 after seeing the performance with Mr. Orlando Marrero.

“The show is divine,” she said. “I never expected it to be so captivating.”

“The message and the encouragement for humanity ... I think it is very much appropriate for the times that we live in, you know, because there’s so much turmoil,” said Ms. Porter, who has a fine arts studio gallery in Houston and is a Russian language interpreter for NASA.

“How to find the center? How to find the ground to stand on? And that show, it very much provides that message,” she said. “What encapsulated the whole thing was the message. The message of divine, the unity and be resistant to unnecessary things that we’re involved with. We have to stay true to ourselves and the tradition.”

Mr. Marrero, a former professional basketball player in Puerto Rico whose team made it to the Olympics, said the two of them would be seeing Shen Yun again next year.

“The dancers are flawless. The costumes were gorgeous, the animation and the acting of all of them were superb. It was really an experience,” he said.

A former athlete, Mr. Marrero, noted the gravity-defying feats the dancers seemed to accomplish.

“Unbelievable,” he said. “The guys were very powerful, very flawless. Their movement is just amazing.”

“It was unreal. That was quite a performance,” he said.