shen wei

We just got back from seeing Shen Wei Dance Arts at ADF. Wow. They did a performance called "Folding" which blew me away.

This video fails to capture how special "Folding" was:

That first segment, where they're wearing red and running across the stage. They had this odd, fluid way of running so that the upper part of their bodies didn't move at all, as if they were being pulled on a moving platform (like that famous hallway scene in Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast). And the lighting was dim at first, and with those large white headpieces and white body makeup, at first I honestly couldn't tell whether they were moving forward or backward. At times it seemed like the headpieces were masks and they were moving backwards. But then I would think that they had to be going forwards, to move that quickly and smoothly. The effect was eerie and almost a little disturbing.

Besides "Folding" they also did a beautiful piece set to Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." There's a video for this which for some reason has no sound, so I'm not bothering to link to it. And a short solo work by Shen Wei called "A Solo Work By Shen Wei." Which was odd and kind of .. funny? I wasn't sure what was going on.