Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts - Opera House
Dates: Nov. 19, 2012-Nov. 20, 2012
Duration: approximate 120 mins (intermission included)
Price: VIP/480/430/380/300/180/120 RMB
Artist:Shen Wei
Shen Wei (born 1968) is an artist based in New York City. Widely recognized for his defining vision of an intercultural and interdisciplinary mode of movementbased performance, Shen Wei creates original works that employ an assortment of media elements, including dance, painting, sculpture, and video.
For each dance and opera work made with his company, Shen Wei also creates the sets, costumes, and make-up designs. In the past decade, he has created 17 dance pieces with his dance company, had two solo painting exhibitions, and has toured extensively across five continents.
Among Shen Wei's well know pieces are Near the Terrace Part I and Part II (2000, 2001), Folding (2000), Rite of Spring (2003), Connect Transfer (2004), and Re-Triptych (2009). Frequently, critics have commented on his innovative blend of Asian and Western sensibilities.
Shen Wei was born in Hunan, China to a family of Chinese opera professionals. At the age of nine, following the Chinese Cultural Revolution, he left home to study Chinese opera and subsequently won a position at the Hunan State Xian Opera Company.
From 1984-1989, Shen Wei performed leading roles with the opera company. In 1991, he became a founding member—dancer and choreographer—of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first such company in China.
In 1995, upon receiving a scholarship from the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab, Shen Wei moved to New York City. That same year, Shen Wei was approached by the American Dance Festival to present his work.
Almost immediately, an international audience took notice, and soon his work was performed at the National Theater of Taiwan (1996), The Place Theater (1997), Asia Society New York (1997), Stockholm Dance House (1999), Brighten Arts Festival (2000), the Edinburgh Festival Theater (2000), and the Millennium Moves Festival (Germany, 2000). In July 2000, he formed Shen Wei Dance Arts with performances of Near the Terrace at the American Dance Festival.
In 2008, Shen Wei was invited as a schemer of the director team and commissioned to choreograph the scroll segment of the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In October 2010, his company presented a series of 'guerrilla public performances' in various locations throughout New York City.
The vignettes consisted of excerpts from Re-(III), each of which were adapted for the particular space. Prior to this, Shen Wei created a site-specific response piece to Ernesto Neto's installation, Anthropodino, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Dancers and audience members moved within the collective space of Neto's immersive sculpture.
In June 2011, Shen Wei Dance Arts performed Still Moving in the American Wing of the The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Commissioned by the Museum, Still Moving is, according to Shen Wei, about 'creating a dialogue between the dancers and the gallery's sculptures, between past and present, between immobility and movement.' The piece consists of three parts, Restaging: Near the Terrace, Transition, and Internal External #1, all contained within the Charles Englehard Court.
Programme:Rite of SpringChoreograher/Stage Designer/Costume & Style
Designer: Shen Wei
Commissioned by American Dance Festival 2003
Music: Igor StravinskyMusic Recording: Fazil SayLighting Designer: Dave Fray
Folding:Choreograher/Stage Designer/Costume & Style Designer: Shen Wei
Music: John Kenneth Tavener, Tibetan Buddhist ChantsMusic Mix: Gong Zhicheng
Lighting Designer: Dave Fray
