PARIS—Shen Yun Performing Arts returned to the Palais des Congrès for a series of 16 performances from April 16 to May 11.

“The show is truly sensational. We’re really enjoying watching the dancers,” said Quentin Pilette, a doctor who, with his wife, was among the packed audience at the Palais des Congrès on the evening of Wednesday, April 16. Mr. Pilette is in charge of a unit at the Saint-Maurice hospitals.

He said he felt the joy during the performance. “There’s a lot of fun and there’s quite a bit of humor too. So we’re happy, we’re having a good time,” he said.

Shen Yun, the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, was founded by Chinese artists in America committed to the spiritual practice of Falun Gong, which teaches truth, benevolence, and forbearance. Among its artists and founders are people who have been persecuted in China for their beliefs.

“I feel all the energy of those dancing and sharing their beliefs,” Mr. Pilette said. According to Dr. Pilette, the benevolence that is part of the Falun Gong principles is “completely evident when you watch them perform. They seem inhabited by performance”.

In addition to benevolence, Mr. Pilette said he felt in the performance kindness and generosity.

“These are essential values. And I think that everyone who sees the show will feel inspired by these values that Shen Yun is trying to transmit,” Mr. Pilette said.

“Spirituality is important for everyone, but not everyone is connected. So it’s good that some people can talk about their experiences so that people can understand and be inspired by them,” Mr. Pilette said.

“Absolutely delighted” to have received Shen Yun tickets as a gift for his birthday, Alain Renaudin found the show “more than extraordinary.” A member of the Master Chefs of France (Maître Cuisinier de France), he and his wife travelled from the hotel-restaurant they run on the banks of the Yonne in Burgundy to the Palais des Congrès in Paris, to attend this first Paris performance of Shen Yun’s 2025 tour.

“Artistically, everything is wonderful—the choreography, the voices, and the dancers—everything really amazed us and we have a show that I’ve never seen before and that really came from somewhere else,” he said.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization. This civilization has a direct link with the divine, according to the belief that this glorious culture comes from the heavens.

For Mr. Renaudin, this divine connection, which he clearly felt during the show, is “very captivating”.

“My feeling during the show is emotion, emotion, joy, and quite surprised,” he said. “Breathtaking.”

“The people who present the show, whether it’s the lady or the man in English, in French with the American accent or the little jokes, the notes of humor, the orchestra, the exceptional female conductor and really, it makes us want to leave with our hearts filled with joy,” Mr. Renaudin said. As for the eyes, they’re full of “stars for the night” with this “wonderful show”.

On leaving the show, Mr. Renaudin had “the distinct impression of wanting peace”. He therefore believes that Shen Yun can bring “peace on earth and happiness to all and sundry.”

“And I'd like to thank all the people who put this show together. It’s absolutely grandiose. I want to thank you all,” he said.

Isabelle Viguerie first discovered Shen Yun through friends on social networks. “We thought, ‘Is it going to be as beautiful in real life as it is on the networks? The verdict: Magnificent, magnificent, incredible!”

“The artistic level is very, very high, because you can see that a lot of work has gone into it. I think they have to train a lot, and the standards are very, very high,” Ms. Viguerie said.

“We’re subjugated, we’re amazed, we’re full of happiness, in fact!” she said, adding that she was unable to believe that the show can be “so beautiful.”

Isabelle Viguerie felt the connection with the divine “in the movements, in the way you move,” but also in “the ease, the lightness.

“Something very profound. How can I put it? It’s perceptible and imperceptible at the same time. It’s a mixture of the two, and that’s what makes the show so beautiful.

“The body speaks, the body tells stories, and that’s what’s beautiful,” she said. “The faces radiate, as if they’re speaking, and you feel a connection with the audience because you see that they’re there to give the best they have to offer.”

The arrival of the Creator in the finale also provoked a reaction from Ms. Viguerie. For her, this is “someone who is going to come and save the world, ... who is there to give all the benevolence, all that he can bring and make people change.”

“I felt he was there,” says Isabelle Viguerie. “He was beaming.”