Skip to content

You are viewing the unstyled version of the Center for Macular Degneration's website. To view the styled version, try turning on Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) support in your browser (if it is off) or upgrading to a newer browser with CSS support.

Home > Hancher > Shen Wei Dance Arts

Program - Shen Wei Dance Arts (February 1, 2006)

Contents

  1. The Company
  2. Tonight's Program
  3. About the Artists
  4. Notes

The Company

Back to top

Tonight's Program

The Rite of Spring

"When I first heard Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring in China in 1989, I was enthralled by the rich and evocative texture of the score. Over the next 12 years, I continued to develop a creative interest in the piece, finally beginning in-depth research of the music in the winter of 2001. I was further inspired when I heard Fazil Say's performance of the two-piano version of the score. With a passion to challenge myself to continue creating work that pushes into innovative artistic terrain, I brought the company into the studio in the fall of 2001.

The Stravinsky score is constructed with both technical complexity and narrative passion. However, in keeping with my interest in abstraction, it is only the melodic and rhythmic qualities of the music, rather than the story it tells, which inform the choice of movement vocabulary. After listening closely to the score, I identified several body systems and movement ideas that matched the quality found within the music. These physical elements formed the basis for movement investigation and construction. Suspension, momentum, spiral, joint, muscle and nerve initiations were explored. These explorations served as a means of generating new movement, highlighting the importance of initiating movement with clarity, specificity and integrity. I began by asking the dancers to develop and play with different choreographic strategies. Through a series of structured improvisations and movement research, these strategies were more finely tuned. For example, in one section of the work, the performers play with how the movement or spatial choice of one dancer affects the choices of all the other dancers in the space. The piece in its final form is a set structure within which there is a balance between movement exactitude and movement intuition. As in unstaged life, alongside that which is definite, there will always exist the coincidental, the uncontrollable, the chance happening."

-Shen Wei

Folding

Folding was originally created in China for Guangdong Modern Dance Company in 2000.

Back to top

About the Artists

Hailed by the New York Times as "startlingly imaginative" and widely acclaimed wherever it performed, Shen Wei Dance Arts is founded upon the fusion of art forms: dance, theater, Chinese opera, painting, sculpture and a unique hybridism of Western and Eastern cultures. The result is "fascinating fantasy in movement" (Sydney Morning Herald).

At once representational and abstract, Shen Wei's choreography is the moving medium among complementary visual elements in the works he creates. Based upon research in original movement and spiritual beliefs, each new multi-layered work demands the creation of an entirely new physical vocabulary. The performance space is best described as a canvas, with dimensionality and negative space serving as both landscape and character in the composite work.

Apart from repeated engagements at the annual Lincoln Center Festival and the Venice Biennale, Shen Wei Dance Arts has appeared in renowned festivals in the U.S. and around the world, from Spoleto to Jacob's Pillow, from Montpellier to Sydney. The company received the 2005 Helpmann Award for Best Ballet or Dance Work, presented by Sydney Festival in Association with Sydney Opera House.

Shen Wei (Artistic Director/Choreographer), born in Huan, China, is also a painter and designer. He studied Chinese opera from the age of nine, and as a Chinese Opera performer he worked for the Hunan State Xian Opera Company from 1984-89. From 1991-94, he was an original member (dancer and choreographer) for the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, the first modern dance company in China. He was awarded first prize for both choreography and performance at the 1994 Inaugural National Modern Dance Competition in China. After receiving a scholarship from the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab in 1995, Shen Wei moved to New York City and founded Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000.

Shen Wei has received choreographic commissions from the American Dance Festival (1995, 2000–05), Het-Muziektheater Amsterdam, Lincoln Center Festival, New York City Opera, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater II, Dances We Dance Company of Hawaii, and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. He received the Nijinsky Award for Emerging Choreographer in 2004, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001, a fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2000, the American Dance Festival's Ben Sommer Fellowship in 2000 and the 2005 Helpmann Award for Best Ballet or Dance Work in Australia.

Shen Wei's choreographic works include Folding (2000), Near the Terrace (2000-01), Behind Resonance (2001, 2003), The Rite of Spring (2002-03), Connect Transfer (2004), Map (2005) and Second Visit to the Empress (2005). Critics have described his vision as "painterly, mathematical and idiosyncratic. . . This is imagery and conceptualism with a difference" (The New York Times).

For all of his dance and opera works, Shen Wei has created the set, costume and makeup designs. His creative exploration of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring directly inspired a series of large-scale paintings which were first exhibited as part of his company's New York debut at the Lincoln Center Festival in July 2003. As well, he has had painting exhibits in New York and Hong Kong.

Brooke M. Broussard (Dancer) is a native of Lafayette, Louisiana and began her modern dance training there. In 2000, Brooke graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Southern Mississippi where she studied with Patricia A. McConnell and Joelle Van Sickle. Brooke has also recently performed her own work in New York City at P.S. 122 and CBGB's Art Gallery 313. Brooke joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000.

Dai Jian (Dancer) was born in Hunan Province, China and is a recent graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy, where he majored in performance and choreography and studied Graham technique, Limon repertory, release techniques and China Chen Taiji. He also danced a reconstruction of Jose Limon's What Time in 2002.

Jessica Harris (Dancer) received her dance training at the Chapel Hill Ballet School and Carolina Friends School. She has danced with Carolina Dancers, Chapel Hill Dance Theater, Duke University's 15-501 Ballet, The Whirlwind Dance Company, and is the founder of the Carolina Friends School Annual Alumni Dance Project. Jessica would like to thank all her wonderful teachers and friends and the support she has received from her community in Durham and Chapel Hill. Jessica joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2001.

James Healey (Dancer), originally from Grants Pass, Oregon, was born with an extra pinky on each hand. James officially began expressing himself artistically as a gymnast, followed by a wonderfully warped introduction to dance through his high school drill team. James continued his inevitable path in dance as a scholarship student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the American Dance Festival. After graduating from UNLV, James became an acrobat on the Las Vegas strip, then moved to California for three years with Malashock Dance & Company in San Diego, and proudly became a founding member of Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000. James is honored to share this journey with the beautiful artists of Shen Wei Dance Arts, and he no longer has extra pinkies.

Hou Ying (Dancer) was born in Jilin, China, and she is a graduate of the Jilin Arts Institute. After graduation she studied Chinese dance at Beijing Dance Academy and worked for the Beijing Police's Art Troupe. She danced with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company from 1994-2002 and also choreographed many works for that company. She won the first prize of choreography at the 9th Belarussian Vitebsk Modern Dance Competition and was a recipient of an Asian Cultural Council 2002 Fellowship. She has performed Mr. Shen's work since 2000 and joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2002.

Kathleen Jewett (Dancer) attended North Carolina School of the Arts. She was a member of the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy group from 2003-05. Kate joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2005.

Jae Man Joo (Dancer) graduated from Dankook University in his native hometown of Seoul, Korea. He started his classical ballet training at UM Ballet studio, and he has studied modern dances and Korean traditional dances. He worked with Korea Contemporary Dance Company for four years. Before moving to New York City in 1996, he received the Best Individual Dance Award in the Bangnolet International Choreographer Festival in Paris, France. Jae Man Joo choreographed for various companies and artists. He was a principal dancer for Ballet Hispanico and has also performed with Neo Labos Dance Theater and worked with Complexions Dance Company for over eight years.

Sara Procopio (Dancer) is originally from Syracuse, New York. She began her dance training at the Center for Ballet & Dance Arts and received her BA and MALS degrees from Hollins University (Roanoke, VA). While at Hollins, she co-founded the Hollins Dance Project under the artistic direction of Donna Faye Burchfield and also studied extensively at the American Dance Festival. She joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2000.

Joan Wadopian (Dancer) hails from Asheville, NC. She received her BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase in 2002. Since graduation she has performed with SYREN and the Kevin Wynn Collection. Her work has been presented at University Settlement and The Greene Street Salon. Joan joined Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2005.

Jesse Zaritt (Dancer) grew up in Worcester, MA and graduated from Pomona College (Claremont, CA), where he studied extensively with Laurie Cameron. After attending the American Dance Festival during the summer of 2000, Jesse moved to Roanoke, VA to join the Hollins Dance Project, a company in residence at Hollins University and under the artistic direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. He began working with Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2001. Jesse would like to thank his family for their loving support.

David Ferri (Lighting Designer) has worked with prominent choreographers such as Pina Bausch, David Rousseve, Doug Varone, Jane Comfort, Eiko and Koma and Ballet Preljocaj. He has been the production manager for the prestigious American Dance Festival since 1996, training upcoming designers in America. Recipient of 1987-88 BESSIE Award for his design of Doug Varone's Straits, and 2000-2001 BESSIE Award for Sustained Achievement in Lighting Design, Mr. Ferri was also resident lighting designer and technical director at PS 122 from 1985-91. Mr. Ferri lives in New York between his travels and projects.

Chris Hudacs (Production Director) has toured as technical director with Pilobolus Too, David Dorfman Dance, Doug Varone and Dancers, Marleis Yearby's Movin' Spirits and Stephen Petronio Dance Company. In addition, he has designed lights for Tiffany Mills Company, Toy Box Theatre, Nancy Meehan Dance, The Ordinary Theater, Paula Josa-Jones, The York Theatre's "In Mufti" Series, Tony Silva Dance and Music, Trinity College in Hartford, CT; and Rites & Reason Theatre at Brown University. Chris has also been assistant lighting designer on projects for The National Theatre of the Deaf, and Max Roach's America. He has been assistant stage manager for several television events and corporate industrials, including entertainment for attendees of the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, and the closing ceremonies for the 1998 Summer Goodwill Games.

Patty Bryan (Executive Director) recently joined Shen Wei Dance Arts. Prior to joining Shen Wei Dance Arts she served as executive for DanceBrazil for ten years. She also is a member of the board of directors of Pentacle/Danceworks Inc, has served as president of Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies (LIMS) and co-founded Dance Umbrella (one of the first U.S. organizations to support multidisciplinary dance artists, teachers and companies in Austin, Texas).

Shen Wei Dance Arts

Board of Directors

Back to top

Notes

Shen Wei Dance Arts gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our individual patrons, as well as the support of The Howard Gilman Foundation/White Oak Conference and Residency Center, Norman and Rosita Winston Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, Altria, William & Helen Little Family Foundation, Asian Cultural Council, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, Hawkfield Corporation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes a great nation deserves great art.

Thank you to City Center, Joyce SOHO, the Mark Morris Dance Group, The New 42nd Street Studios, the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the New York State Council for the Arts Subsidized Rental Program for underwriting rehearsal space. Shen Wei Dance Arts, Inc. is a member of Pentacle (dance works, Inc.) service organization for the performing arts.

Legal Services provided by Lawrence W. Greene.

Special thanks to Charles Reinhart and the American Dance Festival for their support in the establishment of Shen Wei Dance Arts, to Lisa Booth and Deirdre Valente for their support in the early development of the company, and to Carol Walker and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance for their continuing support of the company.

Shen Wei Dance Arts is a not-for-profit organization. Your interest and support are welcome.

Contact:
Vivian Chiu, Shen Wei Dance Arts
135 William Street, #11B
New York NY 10038
Tel. 212/962-1113
Fax. 212/962-1313
shenweidancearts.org

Exclusive Representation by:
IMG Artists
Carnegie Hall Tower
152 West 57th Street, 5th Floor
New York NY 10019
Tel. 212/994-3500
Fax. 212/994-3550
imgartists.com

European Representative:
Gillian Newson
Tel. 44.207.622.8549

Back to top

Top of Page | Home

© 2003-2005
The University of Iowa Center for Macular Degeneration
Contact Information