AMNEVILLE, France—On Dec. 21, Simon Pauly, a building engineer, saw Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Galaxie Amnéville, and he was struck by the diversity in the performance.

“It’s really very beautiful. It’s very poetic, very colorful—I really like it. It’s very lively, and this format is quite different,” said Mr. Pauly. “There are many different scenes, and that’s very pleasant as well, to have many different dances, a lot of diversity in the show. I really like it.”

“I’m not a dance specialist, but I really like the acrobatic aspect of the show. There are a lot of acrobatics mixed with the dance, and I like that a lot. We’re not very used to seeing that, and it really appeals to me,” he said.

“The music is very beautiful as well. I didn’t expect there to be an orchestra, and the fact that there’s a real live orchestra is really wonderful. I like it a lot—it really enhances the dance, I think, and it’s very lovely,” he said.

One instrument that shone under the spotlight was the two-stringed erhu.

“I noticed that in the center of the orchestra, there are instruments that I assume are traditional Chinese instruments, which I had never heard before. So yes, I really like it. I like it a lot,” Mr. Pauly said.

Shen Yun’s mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture, allowing audiences around the world to experience China before communism.

“It’s interesting to see how other peoples—how the Chinese—view spirituality, how they see the world through their own perspective,” Mr. Pauly said. “It helps you discover another culture, and that’s really nice. It gives you a new way of looking at things.”

“There was also a part about oppression—the idea of being able to have your own opinions, and so on. These are important values, and it’s good,” he said.