COSTA MESA, Calif.—For retired professional dancer Patra Canfield, preserving traditional dances is very important. So she was very happy to see Shen Yun Performing Arts revive China’s classical Chinese dance, an art form with thousands of years of history. “I’m very impressed by it,” Ms. Canfield said after seeing the performance at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts on Jan. 1. “I think it’s very important to keep all traditional arts alive.” Besides story-based dances presented with classical Chinese dance, alongside folk and ethnic Chinese dances, New York-based Shen Yun boasts a unique orchestra that combines traditional Chinese instruments with classical Western instruments, and a patented digital backdrop technology. The animated backdrops create seamless interaction between the projections and the actors on the stage. Ms. Canfield praised the incorporation of this technology into the dances. “I appreciate the melding of tradition with the technology of today,” she said. Ms. Canfield’s friend, …