Artist finds the world is his stage

As a choreographer, painter and visual artist, Shen Wei is a global citizen who travels around the world to work with international artists on diverse art projects.

The New York-based artist is known for his work at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing by choreographing the breathtakingly beautiful dance piece, titled Scroll Painting, in which dancers performed on a constant changing LED scroll of Chinese ink-and-wash paintings, depicting the evolution of China since ancient times.

In 2021, he launched his solo exhibition, Painting in Motion, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, in the United States. In June, he was honored with an American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement. His dance piece Summary premiered during the ceremony along with his art piece Suspension in Blue.

In September, Shen arrived in Beijing. He was ready for a new project, Poetic Dance: Dongpo, featuring music, dance and visual arts, by working with China Oriental Performing Arts Group.

Shen plays multiple roles in the new stage production, including director, choreographer, scriptwriter, visual artistic director and set designer. After months of preparation, Shen and his creative team appeared in the capital on Jan 8 to officially announce Poetic Dance: Dongpo.

Though the exact date of the new production's premiere was not unveiled yet, it will tour around the country this year with more than 200 shows, according to China Oriental Performing Arts Group.

Cultural icon

"I first got invited to participate in Poetic Dance: Dongpo back in November 2021. It was a great honor to direct the stage production, which is about ancient poet Su Dongpo, but I turned it down because I knew it would be difficult to turn his life and achievements into one dance piece," recalls Shen.

Poet Su Shi, also known as Su Dongpo, of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), is one of the most recognized Chinese cultural icons of all time. His legacy, including his calligraphy, painting and his broad influence in various fields, as well as his poetry, is celebrated even today.

The Ancestral Temple of the Three Sus in the center of the city of Meishan, Sichuan province, where Su was born, is a popular site nowadays. The temple, which was the former home of literary masters Su Xun and his two sons, Su Shi and Su Zhe, was transformed into a memorial site and museum.

"I have always loved Su Dongpo ever since I was a child. I love his poems, calligraphy and painting. I feel connected to him," says Shen, adding that one of his favorite lines of Su Dongpo's poems is "home is where my heart settles".

Though he said no to the invitation, Shen was still intrigued by the project. After rounds of negotiation, he decided to give it a try.

He spent four months reading Su Dongpo's works and books about him. He also worked with scholars and artists from China Oriental Performing Arts Group to develop his ideas and fulfill them onstage gradually.

Shen says that traditional Chinese culture has played a vital part in his art career and with Poetic Dance: Dongpo, he goes back to his cultural roots again and combines his knowledge and experiences of working abroad during the past four decades, hoping to bring a stage production that audiences have never seen before.

Poetic Dance: Dongpo will portray Su Dongpo's personality, key life experiences and talent in diverse literary forms in the production's four chapters.

For example, at a young age, Su Dongpo performed brilliantly in the imperial examinations, and began a long and distinguished career as an official, working in various governmental positions. He went through a series of political setbacks, however, including appointments to minor posts in distant places.

In spite of the hardships, he still retained his optimism. The optimism Su Dongpo demonstrated in his private and political life can be seen also in his poems, many of which vividly describe his own experiences.

"I hope the production will not only appeal to dance lovers but also audiences of different art genres, such as literature, visual arts and calligraphy, since we will combine those art forms," Shen adds.

Path to success

Born in Yueyang, Hunan province, in 1968, Shen followed in the footsteps of his parents and began training as a local opera performer at the age of 9, which enabled him to learn singing, dancing, acting and martial arts. He also learned traditional Chinese painting at the age of 7. That experience allowed him to better understand traditional Chinese culture.

In 1989, he began modern dance training at the American Dance Festival's program at the Guangdong Dance Academy in China. In 1991, he became a founding member of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company.

In 1994, he won first prize in choreography and performance at a national modern dance competition in China, and then moved to New York after receiving a scholarship from the Nikolais/Louis Dance Theater Lab.

Soon, he turned his attention to filmmaking, while continuing to pursue innovation in dance theory, choreography and painting throughout the 1990s. In 2000, he founded his own dance company, the New York-based Shen Wei Dance Arts.

"The second month after arriving in Beijing, I started having workshops with dancers of China Oriental Performing Arts Group. For decades, I've developed my own training methods, and the dancers are very talented," Shen says.

China Oriental Performing Arts Group has produced the stage production Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting, which was premiered in Beijing in 2022 and toured around China with over 200 shows. It was one of the most popular and best-selling stage productions in the country last year.

"Chinese literature is one of the major literary heritages of the world, and Su Dongpo is definitely among the list of the greatest poets in the world," says Jing Xiaoyong, head of China Oriental Performing Arts Group.

"Shen is a great artist with unique individual style, and this new stage production will connect the culture and tradition from the past of China to the modern time."