Born to Chinese opera artists, Shen Wei made his stage debut at age six. He showed a penchant for choreography when a group of Chinese students were learning the works of José Limón, Martha Graham, and Paul Taylor, becoming a dancer and choreographer in the Guangdong Modern Dance Company in 1990. He moved to New York in 1995. Today, Shen is bringing a creative fusion of Chinese opera, painting, calligraphy, kinetics, and theater to contemporary dance. Destined to define new frontiers in dance, he continually surprises his admirers with new kinds of dances.
About the Company
First attracting national attention at the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC in 1995, Shen has since regularly appeared there. He formed his company (today 16 dancers) in 2000. Quite popular on the festival circuit, the company has found a New York home at the Lincoln Center Festival. Shen Wei Dance Arts has been featured there for three consecutive summers. This superb company of fresh faces from across the U.S., China, and Japan perform Shen’s multi-layered works, sometimes described as “action paintings,” with a variety of movement vocabularies.
Critic's Comments
“The visual and emotional impact is overwhelming. (Shen Wei’s ) vision is painterly, mathematical, and idiosyncratic.”
- The New York Times
“The movement spiral through every joint of the body…”
-The Berkshire Eagle
Evening's Program
BEHIND RESONANCE (2003) – Choreography and Design by Shen Wei; music by David Lang (partial nudity).
RITE OF SPRING (2003) – Choreography and Design by Shen Wei; music by Igor Stravinsky, a four-hand piano version
Performances at Northrop
2006