After the performances in Monaco, our company has had an unexpectedly long visit in Nice.  Because of the snow, like many other weary travelers, our company members were unable to return home.  And now, four days later most of them are still stranded and may be unable to return until after Christmas! 

Waiting to fly

So send all of your positive vibes to them in the Nice, to help them get on a flight tomorrow so they can be home to celebrate the holidays with their families!  Check back here for an complete photo update on their performances in Monaco.  For now, stay warm, enjoy the holiday season, and keep sending good thoughts!

In case you missed seeing our feature on PBS this past summer (Shen Wei’s second time on Sunday Arts) check out the video posted online here!  Don’t miss great footage of the company rehearsing for our performances at Lincoln Center, and Shen Wei describing the work in his own words.

Immediately following our Guggenheim performances (literally the next day) the company traveled to Singapore to perform at Esplanade Presents da:ns Festival for the Asian premiere of Re- (I, II, III).  The cover of the festival’s brochure featured our dancers with expressive watercolor designs.

After a week of rehearsals, performances and master classes, the company headed to Hong Kong to perform at the Silk Road Arts Festival.  In conjunction with the performances, Shen Wei had an exhibition of the photographs he took along the Silk Road which served as inspiration for Re- (I, II, III).  The flier for the exhibition is below:

Shen Wei’s exhibition was installed at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and again later at the Kwai Tsing Theatre where the company performed.  Check out the gorgeous installation below:

The dancers also had some time to enjoy some free time and explore Hong Kong on their own.  Here are some fun photos they’ve shared with us.

Goldfish Market

Escalators and dancers’ feet

Searching for dinner in Macau

A delicious meal found!

Enjoying some down-time after a performance

Soon it was time to leave Asia behind and return to the US to perform in Portland, OR at White Bird Dance.  The performances were very well received!  See article postings below :

Oregon Live  ”Shen Wei’s troupe moves with finesse and boldness”

Willamette Week ”The dancers move as if without spines, twisting amongst each other to create a sense of calm.”

We eagerly anticipate the upcoming performance at the Monaco Dance Forum (Dec 19th)!  Click here for ticket information. Keep checking back here for more updates!

Afternoon Studio Time:  Concepts & Improvisation

In the studio at Paolo Grassi

And so we begin…

Last week I arrived in Milan to kick-off a very unique residency project at the Paolo Grassi School in Milan, Italy.  Spread across seven weeks during the next six months, the project will culminate in public performances of a new work created by Kate Jewett, SWDA Rehearsal Director.  This new work will be presented in Florence in May 2010 through Fabbrica Europa.

We invited a group of 21 talented dancers from all over Italy to begin studying Shen Wei’s  Natural Body Development Technique and to research movement concepts and qualities through games and structured improvisations.  The schedule for the November 16-27 :  Technique Class from 10.30-13.00 and Concepts & Improvisation from 14.00-16.00.

The Week One focus in the studio was an introduction to Shen Wei’s technique through in-depth exploration of breath, internal energy, center-shifting, momentum, spirals, rotations and flow.  At Paolo Grassi we are working in an intimate studio setting which allows the dancers the opportunity to learn and grow from both observation and experience.  It has been wonderful to witness this group immerse themselves wholeheartedly into a new technique.  It was a productive week, with the dancers and I looking forward to Week Two.

Shen Wei Dance Arts Workshop: Kate Jewett,  Sara Procopio and Andrew Cowan
Nov 30, 2009 – Dec 11, 2009; Mon – Fri
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Location:  Peridance, 890 Broadway, Sixth Floor, New York, NY 10003 (Check the website for updates on class location closer to the scheduled date of the workshop.)
Monday – Friday: November 30 – December 11
Monday – Thursday will focus on Technique, Friday will focus on Repertory.

First week (11/30-12/4): $90
Second Week (12/7-12/11): $90
Full Workshop: $170
Single Class : $20

Register here

Bios:
Kate Jewett
Kate joined Shen Wei dance Arts as a performer in 2005. As a company member, teacher and rehearsal assistant, she has conducted master classes and workshops at various universities as well as venues on three continents. She has performed in leading halls throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the US. Named Director of Education and Outreach for Shen Wei Dance Arts in 2008, Jewett works with senior leadership and in collaboration with the New York City Board of Education to develop a curriculum based on Shen Wei’s repertoire. Since January 2009, Kate also serves as the company’s rehearsal director.

Sara Procopio
Sara Procopio, is a founding member of Shen Wei Dance Arts who currently serves as a company member, as well as artistic associate. She began her dance training at the Center of Ballet & Dance Arts in Syracuse, NY and studied extensively at the American Dance Festival and at Hollins University where she earned both her undergraduate and master’s degrees. While at Hollins, Sara co-founded the Hollins Dance Project under the artistic direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. Since moving to New York in 2001, Sara has performed with Shen Wei Dance Arts at renowned festivals and venues throughout the world. Sara has taught at Hollins University, the ADF/NY January Intensive and is a teaching artist for Shen Wei Dance Arts throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Andrew Cowan (Dancer) was born in Southern California and trained at the Idyllwild Arts Academy. He continued at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he received his BFA in Dance. He has performed with WilliamsWorks, Keigwin+Co, BareBones, and in works by David Massingham, Arthur Pita, and Liam Steel (Stan Won’t Dance). He joined SWDA in 2007.

In conjunction with the company’s performance at White Bird Dance this Wednesday (Nov 11th, 2009) there will be two classes offered by SWDA company members.

Master Class with Shen Wei Dance Arts at Conduit Dance
November 10th @ 11 AM / $15 /space limited
Pre-registration suggested for int/advanced level movers

Conduit Dance, Inc. 918 SW Yamhill Avenue, Suite 401, Portland, OR 97205

This master class, led by Kate Jewett, a member of Shen Wei’s company, will provide an introduction to Shen Wei’s Natural Body Development dance technique. 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.

Int/Advanced Contemporary Technique
w/ former Shen Wei dancer James Healey
Tuesdays 5:30-7:30 PM
$14/class drop in or $72/six class card

James Healey, founding member of SWDA, is teaching a class at Conduit Dance in Portland, Oregon.  For more information please visit the Conduit Dance website and see below for details.

Conduit Guest Teacher, James Healey brings his experience as a former rehearsal director and dancer with Shen Wei Dance Arts, as well as his own movement research to his teaching. Class will include a warm-up following a loose technique class structure, developing into and out of floor work and standing phrase work, and the beauty of transitioning from one to the other. The class will also focus on how the architecture of the space, and dancers within it, relate and contribute to the movement of each individual.

…here are some beautiful images of our dancers performing excerpts from ”Connect Transfer” and “Folding” in the rotunda as a part of the Works and Process series. (Photos byYi-Chun Wu)  A slideshow different pictures from the night can be viewed on the Ancient Paths, Modern Voices website here.

“Folding” (below) was performed as never seen before, offering spectators various vantage points unavailable to audience members in a traditional theater setting.

Here also is just a taste of the enlightening dialogue between Shen Wei and Anna Kisselgoff as excerpts from the company’s repertoire were presented.   It was truly a facinating night of up-close-and-personal performances and insight into Shen Wei’s technique, inspiration, and thought processes.  These were posted live on our twitter account during our Sunday night performance.   

7:54 PM :  Live from the Guggenheim tonight at 7:30pm Eastern Time! Follow us @SWDA!

7:55 PM :  So–technical difficulties, but here we are! Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic of the New York Times for 20 some years introduces SWDA

7:56 PM :  AK=Anna Kisselgoff, SW=Shen Wei, ok?!

7:57 PM :  We are here to explore 10 years of SW and his company, founded in 2000, entering its tenth anniversary season in 2010

7:58 PM :  AK: SW was born to a family of artists in Hunan, trained as painter, dancer, calligrapher, founds the first modern dance co in China

7:58 PM :  AK: What is inspiration for RITE OF SPRING; SW: structure of music as starting point, focus on rotation of body parts, simple human mvmt

7:59 PM :  SW: handpainted floor covering that is in dialogue with movement

8:00 PM : An Excerpt from MAP–2005 work in collaboration with music by Steve Reich, 10 dancers on the Guggenheim stage whirling like mad

8:00 PM : AK: What is inspiration for RE- TRIPTYCH (2009)? SW: Re- invokes concepts of rebirth, renewal, rethink. Do not have this word in Chinese!

8:03 PM : AK: What is inspiration for 3 parts of Triptych? SW: 1: Tibet, 2: Angkor Wat (Cambodia), 3: Silk Road. personal journeys that became dance

8:05 PM : EXCERPT RE- 2: Inspired by friezes on ancient temples at Angkor Wat, music from a local group of artists injured in cambodian civil war

8:08 PM : SW: Sculpture pushes me to think of movement in different way. Movement of one character in frieze inspires movement of another

8:06 PM :  AK: Re 2 a frieze with movement tumbling out of it: very unusual–what is inspiration, SW?

8:09 PM :  SW: We use internal energy, technique that creates movement by breath or feelings, feel you have no bones, you fly, chi affects muscles

8:09 PM :  AK: next piece inspired by Tibet, SW invited Tibetan nun to sing at NYC premiere, a large Tibetan mandala on stage. What inspired technique?

8:14 PM :  SW: Journey in Tibet; experience of gravity, difficulty of breath. How translate to movement? Spent 2 weeks in studio with dancer in dark!

8:14 PM : AK: SW created a book of photographs in Tibet, proceeds go to support orphanage in Tibet, SW was moved by humility of people and landscape

8:16 PM : AK: What was inspiration for part 3: Silk Road?

8:16 PM : SW: Took 40 day trip to Silk Road, to see how different cultures influenced each other. What separates East and West? What is shared?

8:18 PM :  SW: discovered theme in China/East: unified, shared experience; Western: focus on individual, personal journey

8:22 PM :  SW: Part 3 done with eyes closed. Pretty dangerous! Focus on unity/individual in connection. AK: A conceptual work! SW: Music by David Lang

8:23 PM :  Moving up to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rotunda: Excerpts from FOLDING (2000); NEAR THE TERRACE (2001); CONNECT TRANSFER (2004). Thanks for following tonight!!

Please join SWDA at the Guggenheim Museum for a preview of our 10th anniversary season on October 24^th and 25^th at 7:30 pm!  Part of the Works & Process series as well as Carnegie Hall’s festival Ancient Paths, Modern Voices: Celebrating Chinese Culture (info on Shen Wei here). 

In a few weeks five of our wonderful company members will each be teaching classes (M-F, 10-12noon, the week of Oct 19th) at Panetta Movement Center (214 West 29th Street, 10th floor).  We wanted you, our loyal blog readers, to be the first to know!  Read more about the dancers here.   See below for a complete list of class descriptions and sign up now! ($15/class or $65 for the week with pre-registration by emailing SWDAclass@gmail.com)

Class Descriptions

Andrew Cowan – Technique and Improv – Monday, Oct 19th, 10am-12noon

Technique class will begin with exercises that warm the body from the inside out, cultivating the body as tool for movement development.  Class will focus on qualitative concepts including Energy, Flow, and Continuous Motion. Class will develop a higher sense of spatial awareness.  Improvisation will draw on Andrew’s experiences with Shen Wei Dance Arts, where emphasis is placed on quality of movement and concept investigation, rather than more traditional forms of choreographed phrase work. Improvisation exercises will aid the dancer’s investigation of self vs. space.

Javier Baca – Technique – Tuesday Oct, 20th, 10am-12noon

Class will start with a sequence of rolling and warming of the spine, softening the joint to allow the body to arrive at the ready for larger movement.  Combinations will then focus on the transfer of energy to allow for larger more expansive qualities of movement at maximum efficiency.

Adam Weinert – Technique – Wednesday, October 21st, 10am-12noon

Drawing from principles of the Franklin Method, Dowd Anatomy, and Gaga Technique, the first portion of this class aims to stimulate physical awareness, core strength, and healthy alignment.  With this foundation established, we then expand on these ideas to include the space, its occupants, dynamic changes and musicality.

Sara Procopio – Technique – Thursday, October 22, 10am-12noon

An opportunity to immerse into the wonder of the moving body, through daily practice, this class will begin by encouraging the body to arrive to neutral as a preparation for full-out dancing.  From a neutral and aligned body, we will investigate movement based upon breath, flow, suspension, center-shifting, bouncing, momentum, spirals and joint rotations through simple exercises and travelling phrases.  Exploring movement ideas in relationship to one’s own innate movement qualities will open the body and mind to new ways of dancing.  The class is influenced by Sara’s work with Shen Wei Dance Arts as well as her own movement research.

Cecily Campbell – Technique – Friday, October 23rd, 10am-12noon

This class will build on the alignment and clarity in the body through concepts of a simple, open and grounded technique.  We will play inside a full range of movement, learning to access a clear and friendly communication between the movement and the mover,  and exploring the ways in which that kind of listening and following inside our movement can bring new qualities to our physicality.  It’s a class about space and music and breath, focusing your body inside those contexts in a way that maximizes enjoyment for all.