STAMFORD, Conn.—Songwriter John Trani was moved to tears witnessing not only the beauty created by the artists of Shen Yun Performing Arts, but the compassion he felt they radiated.

“It’s just a beautiful gift to give to, to everyone that sees it,” Mr. Trani said at The Palace Theatre on March 8. “And I was just reading today before I came down that it’s branched out all over the world. And, you know, that gift can spread all over.”

What the artists accomplished, Mr. Trani said, was “perfection beyond belief.”

He was referring to the orchestra as well as the dancers, he added.

“That’s the other reason why I’m so happy,” he said, adding that the musicians were worth watching in their own right. “When you know everything that goes into every single song, I was just spellbound. And I loved the authentic Chinese instruments. I really enjoyed watching them. I really enjoyed it.”

“It’s so inspiring,” Mr. Trani said. “And it went with the dancing perfectly and the dynamics, the sounds from being very subtle and soft to being very dynamic and having such that range—I loved it.”

Mr. Trani felt Shen Yun was needed more than ever.

“I don’t like to go into it, but all of the terrible cruelty that’s going on in the world and the lack of compassion—and this brings it out—this really brings it out. The message, the expression of the dancers, everything here: compassion, that’s the word,” he said.

“Compassion and the feeling that reminds us that we’re all one, that we’re all one,” Mr. Trani said.

Mr. Trani’s personal life mantra is kindness, and so appreciated and resonated with what he saw in Shen Yun.

“The show and the theme and the dances express kindness,” he said. “To me, it’s the only reason we’re here.”