LOS ANGELES—Serah Henesey, an actress and film producer, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 25 at The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“I’ve been wanting to come for years. I’ve been very interested in it. And so it finally happened today. I thought it was spectacular. It was so, so beautiful. It was everything I expected and more,” she said.

“The expressions were so, so beautiful. I got a real joy of seeing that they take a great pride in their art, and it shows. And they’re obviously very joyful doing what they love. And it comes across. It’s very heartfelt. You feel all their emotions and the love of what they’re doing,” Ms. Henesey said.

“There’s definitely a sportsmanship to it, the athletic aspect and the physical aspect of the dancers, the hard work and training, and the artistic aspect. So it was a marriage of both things. And I think that’s what made it so much more beautiful and enjoyable,” she said.

“All art is divine. You can’t express divinity if you don’t have love. And the ultimate love is obviously God and creation. You can’t create without love. All of it is an expression of divinity,” she said.

Ms. Henesey said that she enjoyed seeing Shen Yun’s “Emperor Kangxi and His Secret Mission,” and “How the Monkey King Came to Be,” which is based on the Chinese classic, “Journey to the West.”

She said that the dance portraying Kangxi presented the value of selflessness, which is something the world needs more of.

“Giving is obviously a beautiful thing, and selfishness and greed is obviously not. So hopefully more people buy into that message, because I think that’s a message we really need to hear,” she said. “I think there’s too much greed in the world and people need to be more kind and giving and loving and generous.”