METAIRIE, L.A.—Jennyffer Giraldo, an educator who works with refugee children, and her mother Janeth Giraldo, a bookkeeper, watched Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center on May 5.

“It was very moving,” Ms. Giraldo said. “I cried. I felt all the emotions. Art does that to you, and so it was very powerful. It was really beautiful.”

Ms. Giraldo said that she could feel the energy resonating from the performers and that when she and her mother saw the opening dance depicting divine beings following the Creator down to Earth to establish Chinese civilization, they were moved to tears.

“I feel joy, I feel happiness, I feel love, I feel a lot of love in my heart. I feel like I’m very connected to my heart,” Ms. Giraldo said, adding that her mother was touched by the music performed by Shen Yun’s live orchestra.

“They had to work so hard to make [it]. I want to tell them, ‘Thank you so much for such a wonderful show.’ And to the symphonic orchestra too that played, I didn’t know there was going to be live music too with it, so that blew my mind. That it was absolutely—all the singers, and all the performers—it was really a beautiful, beautiful show.”

She also expressed her gratitude to Shen Yun’s artistic director, D.F.

“I want to tell him thank you for being a brave soul, for opening the way for others to a way to their heart. I would tell him thank you so much. I know that’s a mission, and somebody has to do it. Somebody has to be the brave soul, you know, that opens the way for others to follow. I want to tell him [thank you] very much, from my heart.”

“If you want to connect to your heart and to your inner being and to just have your mind be blown, come and make the connection and see Shen Yun.”