CLAREMONT, Calif.—Senior project manager Shabbir Ahmed and his wife Sherry Kazmi, a biotech scientist, both engineers, enjoyed Shen Yun Performing Arts with their daughter Xenia at Bridges Auditorium on Saturday evening.

“I think it’s just touching. It’s not about where we all come from. It’s who we are as people,” he said.

Classical Chinese dance is the main medium, along with story-based dances and ethnic and folk dances. With thousands of years of history, classical Chinese dance takes years to achieve mastery in the basic forms, with many layers of inner meanings for each position and movement.

“It’s beautiful. So beautiful and touching,” Ms. Kazmi said. “All the dancers are so lovely. The storyline is beautiful.”

She said she performs Indian classical dance as a hobby, while her daughter participates in theater as a student. As an artist, Ms. Kazmi especially enjoyed a Shen Yun dance vignette featuring long, flowing sleeves, which are tossed into the air in harmony with the other dancers.

“All of the sleeves are going up and it just looked like a waterfall, and it’s absolutely lovely,” she said.

“I can’t believe how much they must have worked hard to get to this point,” she continued in praise of the dancers. “They have perfection. Every single performer has been absolutely perfect. Flawless performance.”

Her daughter Xenia agreed that the flowing sleeves were a highlight of the performance. “I loved it. I think it was very beautiful,” she said.

Mr. Ahmed said that while he does not participate in the arts, he can appreciate them even more because of his wife and daughter.

“This is even more touching for me, because I’ve seen them on the stage. So this is beautiful,” he said.

“They’re awesome. They’re beautiful. So thank you,” he continued. “So it’s been very emotional, too. It’s amazing.”