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Top choreographer returns with two classics
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SHEN Wei has always been exploring ways to communicate his aesthetic beliefs. After enjoying success with his “Rite of Spring” and “Folding” two years ago in Shanghai, the pioneering Chinese-American choreographer is coming back with two of his other works — “Map” and “Near the Terrace” — as part of the Shanghai International Arts Festival.
It will be staged on Monday and Tuesday.
Born in a traditional Chinese opera family, Shen studied ink-wash painting and later Western painting. He has always been interested in beautiful creations regardless of art forms or cultural sources.
He is frequently cited for his innovative approach in blending Asian and Western sensibilities and for his syncretic approach to performance art.
“Exposed to both Western and Chinese cultures, I don’t feel like myself if I have to side with one and replace the other. Rather, it is like a process of opening a new space where I begin to understand the different pursuits of Western and Chinese cultures,” says Shen. “How we accept different opinions may determine the possibility of our exploration about men and the world.”
Widely recognized for his defining vision of an intercultural and interdisciplinary mode of movement-based performance, Shen creates works that employ an assortment of media elements, including dance, painting, sound, sculpture, theater and video.
The 2001 creation, “Near the Terrace,” is a typical work that exhibits his comprehensive exploration in painting, sculpture and body movements.
With a huge terrace as its main stage, dancers with gray-and-white dress either pose still or walk very slowly near the terrace, much like moving sculptures.
Inspired by Paul Delvaux’s painting, Shen decided to create a surreal world where time passes very slowly and people move against gravity. He even personally designed and made the costumes with industrial cloth to realize the sculpture-like figures on stage and exhibit the anti-gravity world.
“It is like a dream, where beautiful moments casually occur. We have all those moments in life, such as a cloud passing over, a leaf floating through, or water rippling afar. There are numerous such moments happening on the stage in ‘Near the Terrace’ in slow pace, and communicating with the audiences’ inner world,” says Shen.
“Map,” inspired by Steve Reich’s “The Desert Music,” is a work in which Shen explores about movements that had never been used before in 2005.
“It happens often when we believe we have already used all the movements that can be created, but that is not true,” says Shen. “There are always new possibilities as we know the world and ourselves better along time.”
The movements Shen created for his “Map,” including various twisting, jumping, rebounding and hanging, are related with gravity, logic and science, which can only be achieved based on the present acknowledgement about the world.
All the movements of the dancers were born after Shen carefully studied about the body’s possibility.
The designs are then directly painted or projected on the stage settings.
“It is a new form of art. I always believe that art, in many cases, is determined by its form rather than content,” says Shen. “Cezanne is known for his painting about apples and oranges. It is not the quality of apples that makes the painting great, but how Cezanne puts them on the canvas that makes it outstanding.”
Shen’s inspiration often comes from his interest in exploring changes. As long as he thinks the idea is interesting and fun, he sees value in realizing it.
“It seems that many Chinese artists are becoming more demanding about their creations. They want their works to be masterpiece each time. That often puts them under great pressure, which is totally unnecessary,” says Shen. “Any small changes may possibly open a brand new space for the entire art form, probably the creators themselves missing it. It may be very difficult to make something big in the first place when you cannot even make small things right.”
Date: November 7-8, 7:15pm
Venue: Shanghai Grand Theater, 300 People’s Ave
Tickets: 80-880 yuan
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