Shen Wei Dance Arts (left to right): Joan Wadopian, Hunter Carter, Jessica Harris and Sara Procopio / © Lois Greenfield 2009
The wide-ranging Lincoln Center Festival, now in its 14th year, has certainly been loyal to Shen Wei Arts. When the company performs at Alice Tully Hall this week it will mark the fifth time Shen Wei’s work has been part of the Festival’s roster of events—which has been notably short on dance offerings in recent years.
This time, Shen Wei Arts performs a major new, three-part work that he has been developing since 2006. Titled Re-, its sections reflect his experiences traveling and working in three areas of the Far East: Tibet, Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and China. The third section of the work, The New Silk Road, was commissioned by the Festival for Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary, and is receiving its New York premiere.
If earlier Shen Wei performances are a guide, this promises to be a serious, exploratory—not to mention ambitious—program. His intention is to present “at once a reconciliation of the life split between the two hemispheres, a generous spiritual offering, and a hopeful plea for intercultural understanding.” His work is known for synthesizing elements of dance, visual arts and the Chinese opera, in which he trained before coming to this country in 1995. All three sections feature the masterly lighting of Jennifer Tipton.
Part I, with a score of Tibetan chants, had its premiere in 2006 and features a full-stage Tibetan Mandala composed of colorful paper shards, which the dancers proceed to deconstruct and scatter with their movements. This updated version incorporates new sound and projections. Part II, first performed in 2007, was inspired by Shen Wei’s study of traditional Cambodian art forms, and invokes the intricate friezes on the submerged walls of Angkor Wat. The score is John Taverner’s “Tears of the Angels.”
The New Silk Road is informed by the choreographer’s return to China in 2008, which is when he also created a section of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies. By focusing on the ancient and modern aspects of his native land, Wei aims to contemplate China’s role as a once and future arbiter of trade, ideas and populations. The celebrated Silk Road is used as a metaphor to explore China’s future as a convergence of cultures. The new work’s original soundscape integrates a commissioned score by David Lang, performed live with “found” material.
Also returning to the Festival is Emanuel Gat Dance, which performs two local premieres by the Israeli choreographer next week at the Rose Theater. Winter Variations further explores movement concepts Gat first investigated in Winter Voyage, a hauntingly dramatic, vividly intense male duet that was part of the 2006 Lincoln Center Festival program that introduced this enterprising choreographer to New York. Although it is an extremely intimate duet, Gat intended it to be performed in a large space. As he has explained, “The space is extremely present, almost to the point it becomes a third actor with dense qualities and a dynamic character.” Winter Voyage was set to Schubert’s “Winterreise,” and Winter Variatons again draws on vocal selections, however, this time in a more wide-ranging vein: the score includes Richard Strauss, Riad al Sunbati and a re-mix of a Beatles song.
Gat originally studied to be a conductor, before coming to dance in his early twenties, and in previous works, he has taken on such major musical scores as The Rite of Spring and Mozart’s Requiem. But he has also frequently incorporated intervals of silence amid the music, and in Silent Ballet, the program’s other premiere, he eschews music altogether. When this full-company work was performed in London, the dance critic of The Guardian wrote, “Individuals and small groups are highlighted with a color and precision that evoke the contrasting effects of different instruments…Even though Gat’s choreography can be spare to the point of minimal, the overall impression is fascinatingly rich.”
For the moment, larger-scale Lincoln Center Festival dance offerings—such as the 2006 presentation of San Francisco Ballet, or the splendid revival of Merce Cunningham’s Ocean—appear to be on hold, in part because of the unavailability of the David H. Koch Theater, currently under renovation. But these two Festival dance offerings reflect the overall international and multi-cultural flavor of the festival, and indicate an ongoing commitment to showcasing the works of favored choreographers, allowing New York audiences to experience their ongoing development.
Shen Wei Dance Arts, July 9-11 at 8pm, Alice Tully Hall, Broadway & 65 St. $35-$55
Emanuel Gat Dance, July 14, 16, 17 at 8pm, Rose Theater, Frederick C. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th St., 212-721-6500 or www.LincolnCenterFestival.org, $20-$50.
This time, Shen Wei Arts performs a major new, three-part work that he has been developing since 2006. Titled Re-, its sections reflect his experiences traveling and working in three areas of the Far East: Tibet, Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and China. The third section of the work, The New Silk Road, was commissioned by the Festival for Lincoln Center’s 50th Anniversary, and is receiving its New York premiere.
If earlier Shen Wei performances are a guide, this promises to be a serious, exploratory—not to mention ambitious—program. His intention is to present “at once a reconciliation of the life split between the two hemispheres, a generous spiritual offering, and a hopeful plea for intercultural understanding.” His work is known for synthesizing elements of dance, visual arts and the Chinese opera, in which he trained before coming to this country in 1995. All three sections feature the masterly lighting of Jennifer Tipton.
Part I, with a score of Tibetan chants, had its premiere in 2006 and features a full-stage Tibetan Mandala composed of colorful paper shards, which the dancers proceed to deconstruct and scatter with their movements. This updated version incorporates new sound and projections. Part II, first performed in 2007, was inspired by Shen Wei’s study of traditional Cambodian art forms, and invokes the intricate friezes on the submerged walls of Angkor Wat. The score is John Taverner’s “Tears of the Angels.”
The New Silk Road is informed by the choreographer’s return to China in 2008, which is when he also created a section of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies. By focusing on the ancient and modern aspects of his native land, Wei aims to contemplate China’s role as a once and future arbiter of trade, ideas and populations. The celebrated Silk Road is used as a metaphor to explore China’s future as a convergence of cultures. The new work’s original soundscape integrates a commissioned score by David Lang, performed live with “found” material.
Also returning to the Festival is Emanuel Gat Dance, which performs two local premieres by the Israeli choreographer next week at the Rose Theater. Winter Variations further explores movement concepts Gat first investigated in Winter Voyage, a hauntingly dramatic, vividly intense male duet that was part of the 2006 Lincoln Center Festival program that introduced this enterprising choreographer to New York. Although it is an extremely intimate duet, Gat intended it to be performed in a large space. As he has explained, “The space is extremely present, almost to the point it becomes a third actor with dense qualities and a dynamic character.” Winter Voyage was set to Schubert’s “Winterreise,” and Winter Variatons again draws on vocal selections, however, this time in a more wide-ranging vein: the score includes Richard Strauss, Riad al Sunbati and a re-mix of a Beatles song.
Gat originally studied to be a conductor, before coming to dance in his early twenties, and in previous works, he has taken on such major musical scores as The Rite of Spring and Mozart’s Requiem. But he has also frequently incorporated intervals of silence amid the music, and in Silent Ballet, the program’s other premiere, he eschews music altogether. When this full-company work was performed in London, the dance critic of The Guardian wrote, “Individuals and small groups are highlighted with a color and precision that evoke the contrasting effects of different instruments…Even though Gat’s choreography can be spare to the point of minimal, the overall impression is fascinatingly rich.”
For the moment, larger-scale Lincoln Center Festival dance offerings—such as the 2006 presentation of San Francisco Ballet, or the splendid revival of Merce Cunningham’s Ocean—appear to be on hold, in part because of the unavailability of the David H. Koch Theater, currently under renovation. But these two Festival dance offerings reflect the overall international and multi-cultural flavor of the festival, and indicate an ongoing commitment to showcasing the works of favored choreographers, allowing New York audiences to experience their ongoing development.
Shen Wei Dance Arts, July 9-11 at 8pm, Alice Tully Hall, Broadway & 65 St. $35-$55
Emanuel Gat Dance, July 14, 16, 17 at 8pm, Rose Theater, Frederick C. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th St., 212-721-6500 or www.LincolnCenterFestival.org, $20-$50.
