ATLANTA—Marisa Clark and Collin Steinberger saw Shen Yun Performing Arts on Jan. 28 at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

“It was a beautiful experience. It was more than we expected. It was fantastic,” said Ms. Clark, a sales executive.

Shen Yun, based in New York, is on a mission to present “China before communism,” and revive people’s connection with 5,000 years of Chinese civilization and culture.

“I felt like it gave an interpretation that we would not be given if it wasn’t for Shen Yun. We are not given all aspects of history like we would like to be told. And I felt like that was an eye-opening experience for us,” she said.

Shen Yun’s artists are trained in classical Chinese dance, one of the most comprehensive dance systems in the world.

“I think every act was gorgeous. It was all different. ... It was all beautiful,” Ms. Clark said.

With 5,000 years of history and literature to draw from, Shen Yun is able to put on an all new production every year.

“Every act told a story and we were not expecting a story to change and take shape and be brought to life like it was,” she said.

Shen Yun uses dance to tell stories from China’s five millennia. One of its dance stories portrays the modern true story of Falun Dafa practitioners being persecuted for their faith in China. Falun Dafa is a peaceful practice that teaches the principles, Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance.

“I think it’s fantastic anytime that you can see a presentation be brought together like that in such a lovely, colorful, theatrical way. And to understand that maybe the politics behind the Chinese people are much different than ... what we’ve understood,” said Mr. Steinberger, a builder.

Ms. Clark and Mr. Steinberger have athletic daughters who they believe would benefit from seeing Shen Yun.

“So we have athletes and they’re in gymnastics and we watched tonight saying that we were very excited for them to get to see this performance [and] to be inspired as dancers,” Ms. Clark said.