PARIS—When Patrick Quinty and Sylvie Lorcin attended the Shen Yun Performing Arts show at the Palais des Congrès on the evening of Saturday, May 3, they made a wonderful discovery. They came all the way from Clermont-Ferrand to see the world’s premier classical Chinese dance performance.

“It was really a wonderful discovery,” said Mr. Quinty, president of a home services company and departmental delegate for the Fédération des Entreprises de Services à la Personne et de Proximité, a major association.

“Frankly, the dancers are exceptional,” she added. “Really, it’s more than I expected.”

“I didn’t think that, through dance, they would also impart a message of culture. I’m learning things, I’m learning,” Ms. Lorcin said enthusiastically..

New York-based Shen Yun’s mission is to present 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through classical Chinese dance, an art form whose history goes back thousands of years. Its state-of-the-art animated backdrop enables ingenious interaction with the performers on stage.

All these aspects captivated Mr. Quinty: “I think there’s a real mix between the artistic, between today, the modern, with all the effects we can see in the montages. Then there’s this culture, this sharing of emotion, of the enchantment of the gods, of the goddess, and that’s great.”

Shen Yun takes the divinely inspired traditional Chinese culture as the source of inspiration for its performances and aims to present it authentically.

Before the Chinese Communist Party came to power less than a century ago, Chinese culture was deeply spiritual.

For Mr. Quinty, Shen Yun showed important values.

“We’re really involved in the divine, in the transmission between Heaven and Earth, between man and man, and this reminds us of the values we had in the West in the past, which have been somewhat lost. And I think it’s great that we’re reminded of them today.

“We’re really into kindness, we’re both a bit into the wonderful, into things that end well, but always with joy and kindness and always in the right sense and in the right spirit,” he added.

She felt “a message of love and kindness between all the dancers.”

“The show brings a lot of stories, a lot of understanding, why we are where we are today,” Mr. Quinty said.

For him, “this return to our roots, this going back in time” that he experienced during the performance is a good message for young people to understand the world that came before. “We always say, ‘It was better before.’ It wasn’t always better, we agree, but in any case, there was a different kind of compassion.”

“There was a different way of looking at things. There was the transmission between the old and the young that we really don’t have anymore,” Mr. Quinty added, hoping that the message of peace conveyed by Shen Yun will be heard in the world at large.

Another duo was also among the packed audience on Saturday evening: Valérie Grillot, an architect and programmer with BNP Paribas, and her daughter Océane, a high-school student.

The high-school student also appreciated the perfectly synced performance. “I thought it was extraordinary that the synchronization was so perfect. Everyone was really together.”

Mrs. Grillot particularly liked the costumes and the dancers’ movements, noting little details like the fingers and feet that she found incredible.

“What’s quite incredible are the points of the feet. I was quite impressed by the work on the position of the feet and legs: you get the impression that they’re constantly levitating, that they’re moving without you even seeing the feet at times.”

Mrs. Grillot found it comforting to perceive “a lot of benevolence, kindness, and attention” during the performance.

“You come out of there completely zen, completely transported by these moments,” Mrs. Grillot said. “It’s truly magnificent.

“It’s so soothing,” Mrs. Grillot said. “And I think the music and the orchestra create something special. It’s really like we learned to dance with a pianist or with an orchestra, it’s not the same as with a sound system. It’s totally different and transports you completely.”

For the teenager, Shen Yun is time travel. “You feel like you’ve traveled through time, and now you’re back in the present moment, but you just want to go back.”

She’s not the only one who felt like she was on a trip. That’s also the feeling of her mother, who greatly appreciated this beautiful moment of escape.

“I think we need moments like this today, that take us out of the ordinary,” Mrs. Grillot said. “We’re on our phones or laptops all the time. And today, to spend a moment, two hours like that, is completely different. We escape. Yes, that’s the right word. We escape, we travel.”

Patrick Rigaudière, CFO and Human Resources Director for a social landlord, thought Shen Yun was “magical.”

“It was a very, very nice show, really something very interesting,” he said. “Really very, very good; very, very enjoyable.”

He particularly appreciated “learning a new culture, something very fluid, beautiful sets, beautiful costumes, a very beautiful alchemy, harmony of the dancers.”

“It’s really magical! You feel like you’re actually there, like you’re living with the actors and the dancers too,” he said. He felt “compassion, benevolence, kindness, gentleness, love, and understanding. And an ability to listen to others.”