HOLLYWOOD, Calif.—Preity Upala, actress and former Miss India International, had a wonderful experience at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Dolby Theatre on May 3.

Ms. Upala said she first saw Shen Yun 10 years ago at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, and she wasn’t sure she would get the chance to see it again—until this year.

“It was magical then. And it’s very magical now,” she said.

Shen Yun is the world’s top classical Chinese dance company. Based in New York, it has a mission of reviving 5,000 year traditional culture, China before communism.

Ms. Upala said her experience watching Shen Yun was a little different this year than the first time. One reason was that each dance and music piece was completely different, since the company creates an all-new program every year.

“I think the first time, I was just wowed by the music and the art. But this time I think it touched me a little deeper,” she said.

She said this time, she felt messages of humanity, spirituality, civility, and love from the performance.

“If everybody in the world was like that, it will be a more beautiful world,” Ms. Upala said. “So that touched me. I thought, oh ... I like that. And how can I use that in my life?”

According to the company, each Shen Yun performance includes individual dance pieces featuring classical dance, stories, folk, or ethnic dances, accompanied by a live, full orchestra with both Chinese and Western traditional instruments.

Ms. Upala said she appreciated seeing Mongolian and other ethnic dances from China, which showed a side of the country that she doesn’t normally see.

“Each one had a different theme, and it was showing different sides of humanity,” she said. “In India, we have [a] saying, the whole world is one big family. We need to act like that I think.”

She was also impressed by the soprano soloist, who she said had a voice with beautiful depth and a layered and textured sound.

“I thought it was pretty amazing,” she said.

Shen Yun’s artists practice Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, a meditative discipline that teaches truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. The practice aligns with the spiritual traditions from ancient China, where artists looked to the divine for inspiration.

Ms. Upala said she greatly appreciated this spiritual aspect of Shen Yun.

“Going deeper within and connecting with the world outside and all of those good things, I think that we forget. And when you come to a show like this, it reminds us, I think, who we are, why we came here, that we’re all connected, interconnected,” she said.

Originally from India, Ms. Upala said she especially enjoyed the intricate expressions and gestures of the dances, which share some similarities with Indian dance styles. She was also amazed by the interactive projected backdrop, which at times made the dancers appear to leap into the background scenery.

“The timing was perfect, because if you don’t get the timing right, it won’t work. But the dancers were on cue, and the graphics are beautiful,” she said. “So really, the show is one of the premier 3D entertainment experiences in the world.”

Ms. Upala encouraged the performers and artists to “keep doing [their] amazing work.”

“Know that you are touching people at large and people are being affected. It’s not just that they’re coming to have a beautiful experience. They’re actually leaving feeling fulfilled, feeling positive, feeling full of hope. There are a lot of messages of hope out there,” she said.

She said she looked forward to seeing Shen Yun again soon in Los Angeles.

“I would be so honored to come back and see the next rendition,” she said. “I can’t wait to come back.”