NEW YORK—As a Cuban exile, Alfonso Alejo could relate to the mission at the heart of Shen Yun: to revive the 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture that was destroyed by the Communist regime.

Mr. Alejo, who has worked his whole life in the finance industry, is now the President of Austerlitz Capital, LLC on Wall Street. He watched Shen Yun perform at the Lincoln Center on Saturday, Jan. 10.

Shen Yun Performing Arts was established in 2006 in upstate New York, thousands of miles from mainland China, where traditional Chinese culture has been all but destroyed by the Chinese Communist Party since the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. And even though four of Shen Yun’s dance companies travel around the world, they are forbidden to perform in China.

“Ancient Chinese culture is beautiful and incredibly rich and it’s an insane crime that it should be suppressed,” Mr. Alejo said.

Accompanying Mr. Alejo was Amy Hyde, a vice president of sales at Ralph Lauren.

“It’s beautiful to see the history, real traditional dance,” Ms. Hyde said.

Shen Yun’s revives traditional culture with performances that include story dances, ethnic and folk dances, classical Chinese instrument solo pieces, operatic singers, and a full live orchestra. All the colorful costumes are hand made and each performance is also accompanied by digital backdrops to create vividly animated settings.

“The vibrancy … it’s absolutely beautiful,” Ms. Hyde said.

Reporting by Pamela Tsai and Kristina Skorbach

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform around the world. For more information, visit ShenYunPerformingArts.org.

Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reaction since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.