Artists-in-Residence

Shen Wei Dance Arts

About Shen Wei Dance Arts

Shen Wei Dance Arts (SWDA) is a New York based company that creates interdisciplinary, cross-cultural performance for forward-looking audiences. Each work by Artistic Director Shen Wei develops an original vocabulary of movements and also uses elements from the theater, Chinese opera, and traditional and contemporary visual arts. In the ten short years since its inception at the American Dance Festival, SWDA has performed in premier festivals on five continents—from Spoleto to Jacob’s Pillow, Montpellier to Rome, Mexico City to Sydney. Additionally, it has earned return invitations to leading venues worldwide, including the ADF, Lincoln Center Festival, Venice Biennale, Los Angeles Music Center, Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, Kennedy Center, Hong Kong New Vision Festival, and Israel Festival. In recent years, the company has increased emphasis on collaborations with regional presenters, museums, and non-traditional spaces, expanding its presence in universities, concert halls, and other unconventional spaces. In 2007, SWDA gave the first dance performances on the concert stage at Frank Gehry’s Disney Hall in Los Angeles. In 2008, the company collaborated with the historic Judson Memorial Church (New York) to present Connect Transfer II, a work incorporating dance, live music, and painting in an in-the-round setting. In June 2009, the company was invited to respond to Ernesto Neto’s Anthropodino installation in the Park Avenue Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall.

In 2008, Shen Wei was commissioned to develop material for the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony. In 2007, the company began a five-year residency at the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), where it performs yearly and collaborates on projects in education and outreach. In 2005, the company received Australia’s Helpmann Award for Best Ballet or Dance Work for its four sold-out performances at the Sydney Opera House, and in 2001 and 2003 was recognized for one of the year’s top ten best dance performances by The New York Times.

In 2007, SWDA founded a formal program in education that has since reached an estimated 4 million students and educators across the United States. The company collaborated with Syracuse University (NY) and its Partnership for Better Education to reach approximately 5–12th grade students with arts-integrated curricula inspired by the Re– series. In Fall 2009, in collaboration with Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, SWDA produced a two-day summit on issues in cultural diplomacy. The company teaches master classes around the world and works with students to develop choreographies.

Residency Plans

During its residency, the company will create at least one new major work based on Shen Wei’s unique Body Movement Technique and will re-stage Shen Wei’s first major work Folding (2000) for a non-traditional space. Dance labs with visiting artists and scholars will explore how the internet, film and ancient texts can be melded with movement and will result in public Dance Salon conversations and demonstrations. Educational programs for K-12 students will be offered, as well as daily dance classes.

OPEN TECHNIQUE DANCE CLASSES
For all levels - as part of the SWDA Artist Residency at Park Avenue Armory
Through the detailed investigation of moving ideas, the class will explore breath, internal energy, center-shifting, momentum, spirals, rotations and flow. The focus will be to provide an informed pathway for opening the body and mind to new ways of approaching dance.

December 7-9 (Wed, Thu, Fri)

December 14-16 (Wed, Thu, Fri)
10:30am-12:30pm

$15 per class

Cash Only at the Door
To Register: classes@shenweidancearts.org
or Call: 212-962-1113

For more information visit Shen Wei Dance Arts.

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