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Issue: 861 Date: 2/22/2007
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Dance St.Louis、聖路易時報聯合推出
國際巨星 沈偉舞蹈藝術團聖市Touhill Center盛大公演
East Meets West at the Touhill March 9-10: Dance St. Louis Presents Shen Wei Dance Arts
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| Shen Wei Dance Arts in The Rite of Spring, five dancers, photo by Bruce R. Feeley |
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〔時報訊〕由聖路易舞蹈藝術專業組織Dance St.Louis主辦，密蘇里藝術委員會(MAC)，美中藝術聯盟(MAAA)等協辦並與聖路易時報合作，邀得享譽國際，有現代舞壇「完美主義典範」之世界知名舞集“沈偉舞蹈藝術團”於3月9日、10日（周五，周六）晚間八時,在聖市密蘇里大學Touhill 藝術表演中心可容納千人之表演正廳舉行兩場跨文化，跨媒介，新視野之舞蹈演出。「沈偉舞蹈藝術團」盛大公演全版廣告請見聖路易時報內頁。公演預售票即日起開始，票價為$25-$43，學生及耆老優待票價$22-$40，凡聖路易時報讀者電話訂票皆可享受八折優待，訂票專線Touhill Center：314-534-6622或Touhill票房窗口314-516-4949，這將是聖路易地區首次國際級之現代舞舞集演出，敬請把握機會，親睹令人目眩神迷之舞蹈藝術大同新世界。
國際舞蹈巨星沈偉在中國湖南出生，九歲開始學習中國戲曲，1984至1989年追隨湖南湘劇團，1991至1994年任廣東現代舞團創始成員，舞蹈員及編舞家，為中國首個現代舞蹈團，並曾到中國各地，香港，南韓，新加坡及印度參加當地藝術節，1994年，沈偉榮獲中國全國現代舞比賽編舞及舞蹈表演第一名，1995年沈偉取得“尼可斯／路易斯舞蹈實驗室”設立的獎學金，來到紐約。沈偉在編舞和舞蹈方面的才華和獨樹一幟的前衛藝術風格，很快受到紐約舞蹈家和評論界矚目。1996年，臺灣的「雲門舞集」就排過他的一部作品。2000年沈偉在紐約成立「沈偉舞蹈藝術」團。2001年，沈偉組成連他自己在內共15人的舞團，參加美國舞蹈節演出後，立即被華府的肯尼迪表演中心邀請前往演出。此後，該團一直應邀參加全球著名舞蹈節，在世界各大藝術城市最有名的劇院演出。
沈偉多才多藝，身兼編舞、舞蹈員、畫家及設計師等多重身份，連續七年獲美國舞蹈節委約，帶領舞團連續三載參與紐約林肯中心藝術節演出，並榮獲２００４年尼金斯基獎「最佳新進編舞家」。在沈偉曾經演出的舞曲劇目中，《紐約時報》高度讚譽《天梯》及《春之祭》，評《天梯》為「一齣值得凝神細味的舞作，它令觀眾越看越投入，每一刻都叫人心蕩神馳」；而《春之祭》則「視覺效果震撼，情感濃烈」。《春之祭》的舞者以頎長身軀，在沈偉親自製作的十三米闊十四米長的巨幅畫作上，瘋狂地比劃空間，構成一場與同名經典樂曲、而又讓不同身體共融的「比舞」大會！《天梯》則將東方對身體纖細的調控與西方美學的精準共冶一爐。舞者身體淨化成白玉般的雕塑，舞動滿台的「色」與「空」，細慢的動靜伸延至永無止境，教人不得不沉思著「生命中不能承受的輕」。
此次應邀前來聖路易，沈偉舞蹈藝術團將帶給觀眾兩場跨文化、跨媒介、渾然天成的藝術舞集演出，曲目之一的「Re-」舞充滿東方風情與宗教色彩，在西藏僧人之吟誦聲中，西藏鮮豔之彩沙，在舞者舞動時細沙附身而舞如夢似真飄落成影，這齣心懷感恩謙虔心誠沙畫之舞已然超脫時空，成就現代新的美學。
East Meets West at the Touhill March 9-10: Dance St. Louis Presents Shen Wei Dance Arts
ST. LOUIS, February 20, 2007 - Cutting-edge choreographer Shen Wei mingles the traditions of his native China with radical American contemporary dance to create strange and wondrous works for his company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, to be presented by Dance St. Louis at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on March 9-10 at 8 p.m.
Images inspired by Chinese opera, calligraphy, painting and sculpture join with inventive new movements in two wildly different dances: the angular, frenzied Rite of Spring, set to the four-hand piano version of Stravinsky's revolutionary score, and the serene, otherworldly Re-, inspired by the spirituality of the culture, people and land of Tibet, with chants sung by Buddhist nun and musician Ani Choying Dolma.Born in Hunan, now based in New York, Shen Wei has skyrocketed to star status and ensnared the imaginations of critics and audiences worldwide, ever since he founded his company six years ago, with his startlingly original dances.
Shen Wei Dance Arts is sponsored by the Whitaker Foundation, with additional funding provided by Ameren.
Tickets are $25-$43/general public, $22 -$40/students and seniors. They are available at the Dance St. Louis box office in Grand Center at 3547 Olive St., the Centene Center for Arts and Education. They are also available by calling 314-534-6622 and via the Dance St. Louis website at dancestlouis.org. Handling charges apply to all phone, Internet and outlet sales.
Readers of the St. Louis Chinese American News will receive a 20 percent discount on full-price tickets by mentioning the Shen Wei Dance Arts full-page ad when purchasing their tickets, in person at the Dance St. Louis or Touhill box offices, or by phone by calling Dance St. Louis at 314 -534-6622 or the Touhill at 314-516-4949. (The discount is not available online.)
Dance St. Louis Artistic and Executive Director Michael Uthoff will host a free program, Speaking of Dance, in the Touhill's Terrace Lobby at 7:15 p.m. prior to both performances.
Shen Wei says that choreographers must "take dancers to a place where movement hasn't existed yet." A painter, filmmaker, and set designer as well as dancer and choreographer, he seeks to invent a unique movement language and visual look for each dance, so he also designs the costumes, makeup and sets.
The Rite of Spring (2003) leaps from eerie stillness to explosions of movement. It takes place on a 42-by-47-foot canvas that Shen Wei painted in black, white and grays with intersecting lines, across which the dancers move like live chess pieces. The music is Igor Stravinsky's two-piano version of the revolutionary score he created for Sergei Diaghiliev's Ballets Russes in 1913. The dance does not, however, follow the original scenario about savage fertility rites in pagan Russia, or any other storyline. Instead, Shen Wei responds purely to the music-its barbed rhythms, wild harmonies, and dynamics that soar from whispers to full-throated snarls.
In contrast, Re- (Part One, 2000-2001) is quiet and contemplative. "It is broadly based on the feeling of the land, the people, the religion and the culture of Tibet that collectively has led and given breath to my recent journeys," Shen Wei says. When the work opens, the stage floor is covered with a pattern of concentric circles laid out in blue and white confetti, a reference to a mandala, an elaborate pattern created within a circle. In Tibetan tradition, a mandala is "painted" by using colored sand, often by groups of monks, as an aid to meditation and a symbol of restoring order and holiness to the earth. As a sign of relinquishing one's belongings and of the impermanence of life, the mandala is then broken as soon as it is completed.
The title of Re- "makes sense for me," says Shen Wei, "because there are so many English words that start with these letters, like return and renew, replace, rethink and so on. People make mistakes in life, but they can always rethink what has been done."
The music of Re- is Tibetan Buddhist chants sung by Ani Choying Dolma, a nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa nunnery in Nepal, who has become known throughout the world for bringing Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences.Critics worldwide have hailed Shen Wei as a unique and visionary talent since he established his company at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, in 2000. "Poetic, impudent, beautiful and strange," wrote veteran dance critic Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times, "the dances of Shen Wei ?announce the advent of a strikingly original artist who fits into no familiar category."
"There has been much discussion and worry in the dance world about where the new important choreography will come from. Shen Wei delivers an answer," wrote Sarah Kaufman in the Washington Post. "From the other side of the world, from an ancient arts culture of meditative minimalism. From an artist whose life embodies the best of China-intensive early instruction in beauty, harmony and natural wonders-and the worst-state-inflicted punishment. And from a man who has handled the bruising clash of his culture and ours with composure and a powerful renewal of purpose."
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| Shen Wei Dance Arts in The Rite of Spring, five dancers, photo by Bruce R. Feeley |
Shen Wei Dance Arts in Re-, four dancers, photo by Bruce R. Feeley |
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