Unleashing Youth Creativity, Opening Theater of the Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition at the National Dance Theatre | Shoulder up. dance. Two Embrace | Youth

On the evening of August 18th, the intimate dance theater "Dancing. Dance. Two Embracing" was performed at the Shanghai International Dance Center Experimental Theater, where the audience stepped onto the stage and learned how to dance from disabled actors. The "2023 Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition" initiated and hosted by the Shanghai International Dance Center Theater has thus kicked off. From August 18th to 27th, the dance exhibition will present multiple exciting dance works, a charity body workshop, and a small performance of Xie Xin's dance theater to the audience.

In addition to performances, there are also markets, workshops, and exhibitions of small works

The 2023 Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition consists of three major sections: offline dance performances, body workshops, and short dance works exhibitions. Within ten days, four distinctive dance works, "Dancing Together," "omnivorous animals," "Where has my body gone," and "Silent Flight," will be performed one after another at the National Dance Theater.

Silent Flight

After the performance of "Dancing Around" on August 18th and 19th, young director Jiang Fan will bring a realistic and humorous body monologue to the theater "omnivorous animals". The performance "Where Has My Body Gone", directed by former Dutch Dance Theatre and Chinese member of the current Israeli Bacheva Dance Troupe, Wang Jianhui, and former Shexin Dance Theatre dancer, Shu Yaohui, will showcase two different body styles in one performance. The closing work of the dance exhibition, "Silent Flight," was created by Inner Mongolia director Dong Nier, bringing the wind of the grassland onto the stage and expressing homesickness through dance.

Omnivorous animals

Works of Wang Jianhui

The dance exhibition also launched multiple spin off events. In the "Body Workshop" section, four young dancers participating in the exhibition, Jiang Fan, Dong Nier, Zhang Dianling, and Shu Yaohui, will bring different styles of workshops on August 20th, allowing the audience to experience the diverse charm of contemporary dance art. After each workshop, the dance exhibition will also hold a "Art Enjoyment Living Room" exchange and sharing activity. The teaching artists will be invited to meet with everyone face-to-face and tell how a work has transformed from an inadvertent inspiration into a complete play.

On the evening of August 20th, dancers from Xie Xin Dance Theater will showcase four small works to the audience: "Encounter", "Bird Mountain", "Intuition of Two or Three", and "Mouse Conjecture: Non Practical Safe House Hypothesis". This one hour free exhibition will start from outside the theater, allowing viewers to watch the performance up close and follow the dancers as they stroll through the trees, squares, and inside the theater.

Exhibition of Xie Xin's Dance Theatre Small Works

The body workshop and the exhibition of dance pieces together form the "National Dance · Non landing Market" of the National Dance Theater, which will start at 13:00 on August 20th. At that time, the National Dance Theater will be open for free, and audiences can participate in the fashion label hanging pole market on stage, sign up for a body workshop, listen to artist sharing, and immerse themselves in the concentrated presentation of creative dance pieces.

Introducing and going out to promote exchange and cooperation in dance art

"Borderless" is an art brand specially created by the National Dance Theater, named Dance Out of the Box in English, which means unleashing the creative power of young people and breaking conventions with dance. The brand has two major exhibitions under its umbrella: the Borderless Dance Festival, which showcases cutting-edge foreign dance works, and the Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition, which targets domestic youth choreographers and directors. In the future, the two major exhibitions will alternate and be held annually to achieve the introduction of "Borderless Dance Festival" and the going out of "Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition", promoting the exchange and cooperation of contemporary dance art at home and abroad.

As a cultural landmark of Shanghai, the National Dance Theater not only introduces diverse dance performances from around the world, but also takes on the responsibility of supporting new works and cultivating new talents, continuously tapping into the emerging dance forces at home and abroad, catalyzing innovation, and exploring the infinite possibilities of dance art expression. In addition to the two major exhibitions of the "Borderless" brand, the "Shanghai International Dance Center Theater Youth Incubation Platform", which debuted in 2018, also provides financial, venue, technical, and promotional support for young artists, continuously incubating excellent youth works.

Chen Li, Deputy General Manager and Project Director of the National Dance Theater, said, "We hope to open a window for the audience to understand the diverse contemporary dance art. The launch of this Youth Dance Exhibition aims to bring more outstanding young dancers and their innovative works to the audience, continuously stimulate artistic creativity, and expand the public's artistic aesthetics."

After the 2023 Borderless Contemporary Youth Frontier Dance Exhibition, Chinese young dancer Hu Shenyuan and outstanding British dancer Akash Audrey will jointly perform the work "Pathless Path", as well as multiple overseas dance works such as the Akuham Dance Troupe's "Wisdom Overcoming the Demon" at the National Dance Center.