Spring Break
Shen Wei Dance Arts To Dazzle UConn
Stephen Ortiz
Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: Focus
Tonight, the UConn will be treated with what the New York Times hails as an "overwhelming and startlingly imaginative" show as the Shen Wei Dance Arts brings two of their works to the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts.
The program will include Shen Wei's "Rite of Spring" and "Re-." "Rite of Spring" is Shen Wei's own interpretation of the Igor Stravinsky work of the same name. It is performed by 12 dancers and set to a four-hand piano version of Stravinsky's score. "Re-" is a meditative work that explores the motifs of the Tibetans.
Established at the American Dance Festival in 2000, Shen Wei Dance Arts is the creation of dancer, painter, filmmaker and choreographer Shen Wei. The company offers a unique combination of Western and Eastern cultures while fusing together Chinese opera, dance, theater, sculpture and painting. The performance space is used as a canvas as the dancers interpret the music with accompanying visual elements. Imaginative movement, lighting, color and positive and negative space are essential to the routines as well.
Shen Wei was born in Hunan, China and began studying Chinese opera at the age of 9. He went on to work for the state opera and then became an original member of the Guandong Modern Dance Company, China's first contemporary dance ensemble. After receiving a scholarship from the Nikolai/Louis Dance Club, Wei moved to New York in 1995, and later on founded his company.
Shen Wei has received numerous awards and commissions from prestigious organizations such as the Cagliari Festival, the American Dance Festival and the New York City Opera. He has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001, Australia's Helpmann Award for Best Ballet or Dance Work and the Nijnsky Award for Emerging Choreographer in 2004.
Shen Wei has been described by New York Times' dance critic Anna Kisselgoff as "ingenious…owing nothing to systems of thought that have lingered in American post modern dance since the 1960's."
Kisselgoff also says of Wei, "Rare is the artist who fits into no recognizable category or fashionable aesthetic."
The program will include Shen Wei's "Rite of Spring" and "Re-." "Rite of Spring" is Shen Wei's own interpretation of the Igor Stravinsky work of the same name. It is performed by 12 dancers and set to a four-hand piano version of Stravinsky's score. "Re-" is a meditative work that explores the motifs of the Tibetans.
Established at the American Dance Festival in 2000, Shen Wei Dance Arts is the creation of dancer, painter, filmmaker and choreographer Shen Wei. The company offers a unique combination of Western and Eastern cultures while fusing together Chinese opera, dance, theater, sculpture and painting. The performance space is used as a canvas as the dancers interpret the music with accompanying visual elements. Imaginative movement, lighting, color and positive and negative space are essential to the routines as well.
Shen Wei was born in Hunan, China and began studying Chinese opera at the age of 9. He went on to work for the state opera and then became an original member of the Guandong Modern Dance Company, China's first contemporary dance ensemble. After receiving a scholarship from the Nikolai/Louis Dance Club, Wei moved to New York in 1995, and later on founded his company.
Shen Wei has received numerous awards and commissions from prestigious organizations such as the Cagliari Festival, the American Dance Festival and the New York City Opera. He has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001, Australia's Helpmann Award for Best Ballet or Dance Work and the Nijnsky Award for Emerging Choreographer in 2004.
Shen Wei has been described by New York Times' dance critic Anna Kisselgoff as "ingenious…owing nothing to systems of thought that have lingered in American post modern dance since the 1960's."
Kisselgoff also says of Wei, "Rare is the artist who fits into no recognizable category or fashionable aesthetic."
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