SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico—Tino Arias had loved Shen Yun Performing Arts when he saw it last year, and seeing its opening night in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A Ferré on Feb. 8, he felt Shen Yun had only grown more successful in every way.

“That’s very important. You can see for yourself the amount of people that came today,” said Mr. Arias, founder and president of the Puerto Rico General Distributing Company. He hoped that next year, the city of San Juan could further collaborate with Shen Yun to bring more people, especially families with children, to see the performance.

“They did a fantastic presentation, just like they did last year,” he said. “There were only two of us last year, me and my wife. This year, seven of us.”

This year is only Shen Yun’s second year in Puerto Rico, and many in the audience were seeing it for the first time.

“I am impressed that they talk in such a profound way, I didn’t know that,” said Mr. Soto. It was completely unlike the China he saw on a trip many years ago.

Mr. Soto said the traditional values he saw in the art all rang true.

“Because it’s true. All true. In one way or another, we try to get closer to God in some way, right?” he said.

“Everything, everything is very beautiful,” he said.

Marjorie Figueroa said it was an experience that could not be replicated through video and had to be experienced live.

“It was so beautiful and refreshing how they managed to combine the art and the faith, and not giving up,” she said. “[I] came out of it with open eyes and wanting to work more with faith and art, trying to combine those together.”

“We had never seen that kind of technology, and that kind of integration of technology and something that has been around for thousands and thousands of years, I think it was a spectacular combination,” she added.

Ms. Figueroa said she would definitely be recommending the performance to friends, as it was something she herself wanted to see again.

“I want to see it again. I want to see all the variations of the shows that they are,” she said.