Chinese, African influences in dance work

Circle and Rupture. Wang Xiaojing / China Daily

Chinese dancer-choreographer Zi Wei will join hands with Abbe Simon Romuald, a dancer-choreographer from Cameroon by performing their contemporary dance work, Circle and Rupture, at Beijing LDTX Theater from Friday to Sunday, as a part of the ongoing Croisements Festival 2015.

Composed of two parts, the work is a conversation between the two artists from different cultural backgrounds. Circle, the first part of the piece, explores gestures, and is choreographed by Zi, a dancer originally from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and now works as a resident choreographer with Beijing Dance/ LDTX company.

Rupture, the second part, which is choreographed by Romuald, who is now based in Paris, talks about love.

“We started the project bit by bit. In the beginning, it was just a feeling about a piece of music and then we spent lots of time in the rehearsal room exploring the movements,” says Zi, who is known for his choreographic works, including Drift, The Pseudo Eagle and Long Melody.

“For my part, I was wondering about the questions of love and about the relationship between the beginning of love and when it’s going to the end,” says Romuald, 31, who made music for the work, combining jazz, traditional Italian and classical music.

In 2008, Romuald created his first choreography and founded his own company Simon Abbe. In 2012, he set up the Abbe-Dance-Company-In-China with Jiang Keyu in Beijing.

The shows are being held at 7:30 pm, Friday-Sunday, Beijing LDTX Theater, 16 Xiadianchangpo Village, Xidawang Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. Telephone: 4006-228-228.

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