How to turn Su Dongpo's poetry into dance?, Shen Wei's new work "Poetry Memories of Dongpo" will premiere in Shanghai. Poetry Memories of Dongpo | Shen Wei | New work
Dancer Shen Wei, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Dance Festival last year, came to Shanghai this year with his new work "Poetry Memories of Dongpo". He extracted 15 of Su Dongpo's over 3000 poems, integrating modern dance with excellent traditional Chinese cultural elements such as poetry, traditional Chinese painting, calligraphy, seal carving, guqin, opera, martial arts, etc., and using freehand brushwork to trace back thousands of years, opening a dialogue that transcends time and space. After 20 months of preparation, "Poetry Memories of Dongpo" will be unveiled at the Shanghai Cultural Square on July 22nd and 23rd.
This modern dance drama is produced by China Oriental Performing Arts Group and the Propaganda Department of the Meishan Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China. When he received an invitation to create in Paris, Shen Wei hesitated at first. At that time, he couldn't imagine how to turn Su Shi's poetry into a stage work. Afterwards, Shen Wei spent four months in Paris flipping through Su Shi's poetry and re studying Song Dynasty culture. Later, he returned to Beijing and borrowed "The Great Series of Chinese Painting Throughout the Ages" from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, of which more than thirty were "The Great Series of Song Painting". As a precious treasure, he read from morning to night every day.
Shen Wei attempts to break into Su Dongpo's spiritual world through his poetry and convey the essence of traditional Chinese culture. "Although it is a story from a thousand years ago, it is closely related to each of us and our culture."
The first time many people met Shen Wei was during the slowly unfolding landscape painting at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He is the chief dance planner for the opening ceremony and the director of "Picture Scroll". Later, he became popular again for the variety show "Dance Storm". On the program, his comments may seem light hearted, but they are piercing with blood.
In fact, even before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, Shen Wei had already won multiple international honors, including the Nikinski Award, also known as the Academy Award in the dance industry. The works of the "Shen Wei Dance Art" dance troupe, founded by him in 2000, are also hard to come by at major art festivals. His dance troupe is also the only art group that has been invited to participate in the Lincoln Center International Art Festival five times and has performed on-site at the Kennedy Art Center in the United States for five years.
Along the way, Shen Wei felt that he had many similarities with Su Shi: "I, like him, enjoy playing music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I love to eat, and I am very emotional." Shen Wei also had Su Shi's experience of being a family from all over the world. In 1995, he ran to New York alone to explore. Because he had no money, he stipulated that he could only spend $10 a day, including meals and transportation expenses. "Of course, we are very poor materially, but I think it's strange that our spiritual needs far outweigh material needs."
The most difficult part of "Memories of Dongpo in Poetry" is how to transform Su Dongpo's poetry into dance movements. The phrase "When will the bright moon be? Ask the blue sky for wine" loses its timeless texture if it is not in place. Shen Wei demands that dancers should not actively or falsely express their movements, but start from their hearts and truly feel body language. During the rehearsal, 27 dancers gradually entered a new stage and gained a new understanding of the body language of modern dance.
"How can we give back our past, our history, and our culture? I think of a line from Su Dongpo's poem - 'Stop thinking about our homeland to our old friends, and test new tea with new fire.' Therefore, I think of how our current creators in China connect traditional culture with our modern civilization and the entire human civilization." Shen Wei said. In addition to choreography, Shen Wei also served as a fashion designer and stage designer.
The music director of "Poetry Memories of Dongpo" is Chen Qigang. He was once the music director of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and also fought alongside Shen Wei in the chapter of "Picture Scroll". Due to physical reasons, Chen Qigang lived in Lishui, Zhejiang for a long time and lived in seclusion. This time, Chen Qigang gave his music creation to Shen Wei and allowed him to re edit the music according to his needs. In addition to Chen Qigang's music, Shen Wei also added 5 of his favorite guqin pieces to his works.
Xiao Lihe, who served as a lighting designer at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, also joined the creation of "Poetry Remembers Dongpo". Xiao Lihe said, "The lights are a bit like music, flowing through it and inadvertently creating an emotion." She described creating with Shen Wei as like climbing a rock. Shen Weihui will work with her, pondering over details and searching for the poetry in the lighting.
