COSTA MESA, Calif.—Shen Yun Performing Arts gave the audience at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts a wonderful performance on April 16.

Business owner Jim Wasko was impressed. “I’ve been trying to go for the past couple of years, but scheduling just didn’t work out, so my wife and I are here for today’s performance, and it’s fantastic. The dancing, the costumes, the music—everything is wonderful,” he said.

“It’s a very rich culture, and it’s just a shame what’s happening over there with the communists,” he said.

“You know they’re taking away generations of freedoms. I really would hope that in the future, the people would get back to the freedoms and the traditions that they once enjoyed without the oppression of the communists,” he said.

He also spoke of how people who wish to practice their spiritual beliefs are persecuted today in China.

“It’s very important because, like I said, the Communist Party, especially what they’re doing with the Falun Gong people, the Tibetans, and the Uyghurs, is criminal,” Mr. Wasko said. “It’s absolutely criminal. You know, in the forced labor camps, [they use] the nice term ‘forced organ harvesting,’ which is murder. So I’m against all of that 100 percent.”

He encouraged the efforts that Shen Yun Performing Arts is doing to tell the world about such things.

“I think it is important. It’s very important,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that we have so many celebrities in this country that are supporting the communist regime. ... It’s very disheartening to see that when, in reality, if that was their relatives that were experiencing that, they would be very outspoken against it and against the [Communist] Party itself.”

Mr. Wasko resonated with the singer’s performance. “The soprano who just sang was beautiful. One of the best voices I’ve ever heard,” he said.

Shen Yun’s dancers have trained extensively in Chinese classical dance, and their skill and artistry are often praised. “The dancing is something I would never be able to do in my life,” Mr. Wasko said. “The men are fantastic. The women are beautiful and fantastic.”

“We come to the Nutcracker ballet every year here and other performances,” he said. “But I think that I would rate the dancers at Shen Yun the best that I’ve seen. [They perform] very difficult moves, and their timing is splendid.”

Shen Yun dancers perform stories in dance that originated in traditional Chinese culture before communism. Hosts on stage describe the story to the audience beforehand.

“The two narrators are doing a great job of trying to explain what we’re witnessing, and so I think that that’s just perfect,” he said, adding that it was good that it was offered in both Mandarin and English.

To the performers, Mr. Wasko said, “Good job. Keep it up. Keep practicing, even though you’ve reached, I think, the pinnacle of the level of success in the craft of dancing and timing. Everything’s just wonderful.”