PARIS—Company director Frédéric Étienne was swept up in the magic created by Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Palais des Congrès on April 30.

“The delicatesse is there, the refinement is there, the elegance too,” said Mr. Étienne, general manager of Cosmétique et Parfum International.

“These are magnificent, colorful, joyful, festive scenes that tell a story and deserve to be seen by as many people as possible.” describes Frédéric Étienne,

Marion Tourbier, international cosmetics and fragrance trainer, accompanied Mr. Étienne, and thought the show “fabulous.”

“We travel to the very heart of China, and it’s a wonderful discovery,” she said. “We’re really impressed by the quality of the dancers, the color.”

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the world’s premier classical Chinese dance company, with a mission to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“I think the level is talented. It’s really very impressive. I’m a dancer myself, so every detail counts, and the synchronization of the dancers is really extraordinary. I really appreciate every detail, for myself, when it comes to dancing,” Ms. Tourbier said.

Mr. Étienne agreed: “Indeed, it’s a very high artistic level, with costumes that also add their touch, and colors that symbolize joy.”

During the performance, Ms. Tourbier said she experienced “a lot of emotions.”

“We have a feeling, despite the dancing, the colors, this Chinese festivity, of having a very soothing, very relaxing side that cradles us in a moment of serenity,” she said.

The two perfume experts felt the connection with the divine was embodied by the Shen Yun artists.

“It’s really the sacred link, with this divine side; we really, sincerely find it in the choreography and in the emotion conveyed by the dancers,” Ms. Tourbier said.

Mr. Étienne said he felt “the benevolence, the kindness, ... the delicatesse and this gentleness, this art of living, which we don’t know enough about and which deserve to be discovered.”

For Ms. Tourbier, Shen Yun was “a moment of sharing.”

“There’s a lot of emotion between the dancers and the audience,” she said. “Even if we don’t get the words, there’s the way they express themselves physically, the look in their eyes. We really come to understand, and they manage to truly convey what they want to impart to us in their culture.”

Shen Yun presents five millennia of Chinese civilization on stage, a traditional culture that the Chinese Communist Party has been striving to eradicate since it came to power in 1949. This is one of the reasons why the New York-based classical Chinese dance company cannot perform in China, even though it performs in some 20 countries around the world every year.

“Traditional Chinese values are very much intact,” Ms. Tourbier said. “It’s very important to communicate them to us too, at home in France or around the world.”

“Chinese values are far too little known,” Mr. Étienne added.

On the same evening of April 30, Olivier Chenevez was also among the Shen Yun audience at the Palais des Congrès. After a career in charge of the Gare d'Austerlitz railway station, general manager of major groups, and director of various sectors at Michelin, he founded his own business support company.

“I’m very moved by this show. It’s a lavish show, with a lot of harmony,” Mr. Chenevez said. “It’s luminous, unexpected, completely radiant. It’s a patch of sky by a civilization we don’t know about, colors, dancers, musicians, lyrics that are truly sumptuous.”

“It’s a China we’re discovering, a China we’ve never imagined. I see a bridge between the West and the East,” he added. “It’s also a bridge between Heaven and Earth. It fills me with wonder, with beautiful colors, prodigious dances, beautiful music too.”

“I felt a lot of kindness, a lot of generosity, a lot of goodness, also with different ages, a real light that you can feel in the faces and in the looks, even if you see them from afar,” Mr. Chenevez said. “But it’s something you can feel”

The inner bearing is one of the aspects of classical Chinese dance that brings out a very particular inner spirit. It emphasizes the inner spirit, breath, intention, personal aura and deep emotional expression. It is through inner bearing, known as “yun,” that the heritage of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization is expressed by Shen Yun’s dancers.

The name Shen Yun means “the beauty of divine dancing beings,” and Mr. Chenevez also felt the connection between the dancers and the world of the divine.

“It’s something that’s important to me. That’s why I see a bridge between the West and the East, between Heaven and Earth, respecting each other’s cultures and civilizations and, in fact, through beauty. It’s beauty that unites the West and the East and their history.”

“It’s all part of a diversity that’s truly heartwarming and broadens the heart, broadens the horizon,” he said. “It’s good in today’s world to be able to immerse oneself in all this civilization, in all this history.”

“It’s exactly what today’s world needs: this harmony, this sense of beauty, this sense of respect between people, this sense of diversity, this sense of multi-generation. And this spiritual dimension, this little window to heaven, is exactly what we need in today’s world,” he added.

“I’m fascinated. It’s really something you have to see once in your life,” Mr. Chenevez said.