"Re - ( I,II,III)"
Shen Wei Dance Arts
Alice Tully Hall
New York, NY
July 9, 2009
by Lisa Rinehart
copyright © 2009 by Lisa Rinehart
Shen Wei is on the move in more ways than one. Born in Hunan, China, he studied Chinese Opera, relocated to New York in 1995, made a big splash at the American Dance Festival that same year and has been touring the world ever since. So it's not surprising his Lincoln Center Festival premier, "Re - ( I,II,III )," is a travelog triptych inspired by journeys to Tibet, China and Cambodia. But it's an artistic trek as well, as the independent pieces, created between 2006 and 2009, have been shuffled out of chronological order (Part I, Part III , Part II) and trimmed to fit the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall.
It's a tight squeeze.
Presumably, renovations at Lincoln Center dictated the location, but even Jennifer Tipton's heroic lighting efforts can't add square footage to a jerry-rigged concert hall and "Re - ( I,II,III) " looks claustrophobic and often choreographically thin. Typical of Shen Wei's work, however -- what is good is gorgeous and much of the rest slides by without incident. This is probably not the choreographer's ideal, but it has made him very popular.
"Re - (Part I)," a danced destruction of a Tibetan style mandala made of bits of colored paper, has the clearest concept and the most muddled movement. As the dancers glide through the mandala with the wavy, wafting shuffle of Chinese opera, the colors are kicked up and blended into a snow of confetti covering the floor. It's a lovely illustration of the humbling dust to dust theory of impermanence, but often the fluttering bits of paper falling from the dancers' costumes are the best thing to watch. The dancers run and roll and put their extremities into a variety of poses, but it's mood music for the eyes. Tipton creates magic with luminous blue skies and bruised sunsets, and mesmerizing Tibetan chants calm the soul, but "Re - (Part I)" feels penned in by the hall and by its own formlessness.
"Re - (Part III)" is loosely inspired by the history of China's ancient Silk Road coupled with the modern day overhaul of Beijing and is far more choreographically solid. The dancers walk purposefully in battalions around the stage (marching towards China's ever glorious future?), but an individual inside the moving formations ricochets against the confines of the human box. A deep circling of the pelvis from a bent over position makes a nice metaphor for a culture in upheaval and the piece's final image -- the dancers linked in a ragged line, walking, almost staggering, slowly forward to the sounds of a rattling train -- is an ominous look to the future.
The Cambodian tinged piece, "Re - (Part II)," is most like Shen Wei's more successful works. Sounds recorded at Angkor Wat flood the hall and a projection of a giant Banyan tree engulfs the stage in a ghostly jungle tableau. The movement is modified martial arts with dancers ducking and rolling under swooping kicks, but the payoff is Shen Wei's signature use of chalky white bodies draped on the floor in sensuous still life beauty. Tipton lights the scattered supine figures with searing light from above as extras of all ages, races and body types fill the stage for a final "we are the world" moment under the arms of the ancient Banyan. With more stage space this would be Shen Wei at his slow-moving, Bosch-ian best, but again, the hall's ship-like intimacy cinches in the imagery and it looks cramped.
The uneven program is revealing, however. Because the expansive doesn't play well at Alice Tully, we see less of Shen Wei, the visual artist, and more flexing of choreographic muscle. In "Re - (Part III)" at least, Shen Wei pushes himself to be more creative with the dancers' steps, patterns and dynamics. Even when he resorts to the just-keep-them-gyrating school of movement to convey anxiety towards the end, it's a forgivable experiment.
One final note, however. Shen Wei has a painterly eye for color and composition, but he is not a costume designer. Except when dancers appear semi-naked, the choreographer's self-designed costumes are second shelf frumpy. Baggy pants and shapeless tops, puke green velveteen shorts paired with black knee socks(!) and 80's hotel-hued unitards detract from an otherwise shimmering aesthetic. Hire someone -- please!
With such visually rich fodder from the Far East, Shen Wei could have trotted out another display of the exotic imagery he does so well, but "Re - ( I,II,III) " includes enough explorations in pattern and movement to suggest the rumblings of an artistic restlessness. Even when the investigations fail, it's good to see Shen Wei pushing against expectations.
Top: photo Stephanie Berger
Dancers (l to r): Jessica Harris, Sara Procopio, Cecily Campbell in in Shen Wei's "Re - (I)"
Middle: photo Stephanie Berger
Dancers (l to r) Javier Baca, Andrew Cowan and Evan Copeland in Shen Wei's "Re - (III)"
Bottom: photo Stephanie Berger
Dancers of Shen Wei Dance Arts in Shen Wei's "Re - (II)"
