Born in Hunan, China, Shen Wei studied Chinese opera from the age of nine and in 1991 became an original member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company, China’s first modern dance ensemble. He moved to New York City in 1995 to accept a scholarship to the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab, and formed his own company in 2000. The group’s name is a nod to all the art forms that Shen incorporates into his work: dance, theater, Chinese opera, painting, sculpture, and a unique hybridism of Western and Eastern cultures. The work seen here encompasses five sections with individual “movement maps” that document principles of Shen’s choreographic technique, celebrating the power of the bodies and the music.
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