Mr. Wilkinson, who’s now retired from dance but still volunteers as a prison minister, spoke to The Epoch Times in the Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston.

“It was a beautiful, artistic, entertaining expression of a culture that we don’t always get exposed to,” he said.

Watching Shen Yun, Wilkinson noted the celebration of Chinese traditions and spirituality that have suffered under the rule of the communist regime.

As a volunteer minister helping inmates improve their lives, Mr. Wilkinson says he teaches them “compassion, repentance, and endurance”—all values he saw personified onstage by Shen Yun in the dozens of pieces its performers present during the 2-hour performance, drawing from ancient and modern China.

“I just found a lot of beauty. And there’s truth in it,” he said.

In a different part of the theater, Blake Hanson and his three daughters applauded Shen Yun’s performers. “She actually hurt her hand from clapping so hard,” Hanson told the newspaper after the performance. “They really loved it.”

Mr. Hanson, who works in food processing, said he brought his daughters so they can appreciate masters of dance, and perhaps one day, aspire toward something of that caliber.

“We’re bringing our children to experience a lot more cultural entertainment. Unfortunately, a lot of modern entertainment is not so stimulating for mental development,” he said. “Something in a movie can be more artificial. Seeing a dancer and what they’re able to do, that’s genuine. That’s someone who’s mastered the craft of dancing.”

As Mr. Hanson watched the dancers and heard Shen Yun’s baritones sing in between segments, he noticed a deeper, more spiritual aspect behind the company’s program.

“We’re Christians. We also follow the persecutions of Christians in China as well,” he said. “Seeing the song, especially the lyrics behind the song, even though it’s not specifically Christian, it’s the same heart under the persecution of the communist regime.”

“That I really did connect with,” he said.