HONOLULU—Michael Loscalzo is a high school teacher who majored in history. Seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts was an eye-opening experience for him.

“I learned some new things tonight. I didn’t realize that the culture was suppressed by the communist government,” Mr. Loscalzo said.

Shen Yun is based in New York, and its mission is to revive 5,000 years of Chinese civilization.

“It was good. What I really enjoyed was some of the history behind the show. ... I just thought, when you think of China, you think of China—always rich with its history, but I didn’t realize that there was an effort to revive and restore the culture,” he said.

Although the Chinese Communist Party only has about 100 years of history, it has almost completely destroyed 5,000 years of Chinese culture in order to give itself legitimacy. Shen Yun is using dance and music to bring that vibrant culture back.

“And [with Shen Yun] doing it through the arts and through dance and through the costumes and even recognizing that they were restoring some of the dances from different regions of China, I thought that was really great. I think for somebody who’s really interested in Chinese culture and Chinese history, they’re able to get a lot more from the show,” Mr. Loscalzo said.

Shen Yun puts on an all-new production every year, and with 5,000 years of history, literature, myth, and legends to draw from, every season is going to be spectacular.

“I think this is a really great way to keep certain cultural traditions alive, and I’m guessing it’s not just the dance but the costumes,” Mr. Loscalzo said.