The Paper's reporter Liao Yang
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Creating, painting, reading, playing the guqin, learning French, occasionally going out to buy groceries, running... On the other end of the phone, the dancer Shen Wei described his daily life in Paris to reporters, like a hermit hiding in the downtown area.
In mid-July, 54-year-old Shen Weigang won a lifetime achievement award from the American Dance Festival.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was originally scheduled to be awarded in 2020, but was postponed to 2022 due to the pandemic. Created in 1981 to recognize choreographers who have made outstanding contributions to modern dance, the award is the ultimate Hall of Fame in the world of modern dance. Shen Wei is a rare Chinese dancer to receive this award.
"Shen Wei is both a visual magician and a technological innovator." The American Dance Festival commented in the award speech: His works skillfully integrate the influence of Eastern and Western cultures, regardless of the definition of culture and art boundaries, whether it is stage, canvas, film or exhibition, installation, his works brilliantly melt the senses and intellect precision, visual design and physical energy, refuse to classify, which can only be described in one word: Shen Wei.
Shen Wei received the Lifetime Achievement Award, with his paintings behind him.
After winning back the trophy, Shen Wei returned to Paris and plunged into the conception and creation of the dance drama "Dongpo".
The commissioned olive branch came from the China Oriental Performing Arts Group and the Meishan Song and Dance Theater, which produced "Only This Green", and Shen Wei was also the director, screenwriter, choreographer and visual designer to bring the poetry and sentiments of the Northern Song Dynasty scholar Su Shi to the stage.
"Half excited, half worried, too hard to touch." After receiving the invitation at the beginning of the year, Shen Wei spent seven or eight months reviewing traditional Chinese culture, and at the end of August, he will return to China to select actors and form a team from scratch, and is expected to hand over a new work full of oriental aesthetics at the beginning of next year.
Not surprisingly, on the road of creation, Shen Wei is once again a single person.
All along, the director, choreographer, stage art, costumes, and video vision in Shen Wei's works have almost all been handled by him, and he rarely finds someone to do it for him.
"It's not easy to find people who share your taste and creativity." Shen Wei said that his aesthetic consciousness is his life experience, if the aesthetics of the collaborators and him are not on the same line, he has to spend a lot of time to explain, to persuade, it is better to save time and energy himself.
A person single-handedly broke into the world, from creation to life, Shen Wei is accustomed to going alone, facing everything alone, never feeling bitter, nor afraid of difficulties.
In 1990, Shen Wei created his first professional modern dance "The Sun Still Rises" in the modern dance experimental class of Guangdong Dance School. In 1995, Shen Wei went to New York alone, and was one of the pioneers of modern Chinese dance, one of the earliest enlightened and active people who went abroad. In 2000, Shen Wei's "Ladder" premiered at the American Dance Festival and became a hit, and he established "Shen Wei Dance Art" on the basis of these dancers, and began to truly enter the mainstream western artistic vision.
In 2014, Shen Wei, who has lived in New York for a long time, landed in Shanghai for the first time with "Sonic Xi" and "Spring Festival", which amazed the four sides and has since become a regular visitor to Shanghai Beach. In 2021, Shen Wei tailored "Fusion", which can be called an "artistic wonder" for Shanghai, which was a sensation. Shen Wei and Shanghai, because of the art together, are deeply tied.
The "critical hit" of beauty is the intuitive feeling of many people after watching Shen Wei's works. He rarely looks back, nor can he count how many works he has created, the only thing he can be sure of is, "I am still very young, and I will not stop creating." ”
Even if the honors are equal to the body and the fine works are stacked, now every row of new works, he will still be nervous and give himself great pressure. For decades, in terms of creative attitude, Shen Wei has maintained the sincerity that many people lack.
"Improve cultivation, musical accomplishment, cultural accomplishment, aesthetic accomplishment, study, study, and re-study." His advice to young people is practical, be patient, don't rush and enjoy the life process of being an artist, not for the sake of purpose.
Commissioned by the American Dance Festival, Summary premiered worldwide at the Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony in July 2022. Photo by Den McKeown © ADF
"Don't embarrass Chinese, get angry"
The Paper: At the Awards Ceremony of the American Dance Festival, your "Summary" made its world premiere, and this new work combines your dance and painting to be as beautiful as ever.
Shen Wei: This was commissioned by the American Dance Festival, and the other party asked if it was possible to publish a new work on the day of the award, and I said no problem. I trained with 9 dancers I didn't know and stayed there for more than a month.
This work is artistically summative and accumulates my experience over the past many years, including my relationship with painting, my relationship with vision, and my relationship with dance movements, all of which are presented just right.
The work is 21 minutes long, small and fine, very enduring, it will be interesting to watch many times, and I am very happy and comfortable every time I watch it. Dancers also like to dance, after all, I have been studying how to use the body for so many years.
There are several paragraphs in the work, but the whole does not feel that it is a segment, visually changing, there are also changes in movement, and it has been flowing. Four paintings are projected in the depths of the stage, which I have painted in the past two years and represent a summary of my past. The ceremony also exhibited the original works of two paintings.
The Paper: In 1989, you were admitted to the modern dance class cooperated by the Guangdong Dance School and the American Dance Festival, and since then you have started the dance road, and now you have received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Dance Festival.
Shen Wei: There are too many feelings, after all, the performing arts run through my life. The first time I went on stage was when I was 6 years old, and I was in my fifties when I won the award. I have spent a lot of time in my life working art, and now that I have won this award, it is also an affirmation of my struggle in the first half of my life.
I kept moving forward, never stopping, and rarely looked back. In this way, I found that I had created so many works, traveled to so many places, and communicated with so many audiences, and these experiences suddenly all appeared in front of me, which was very moving. I feel deeply inspired to be able to get the dedication of the American Dance Festival to you, and to appreciate and recognize the society, its contribution to mankind and artistic creation.
The Paper: The American Dance Festival evaluates you as both a visual magician and a technological innovator.
Shen Wei: There are many different comments, all right. The American Dance Festival will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year, and they have concentrated research on choreographers around the world, have experience, have a certain authority, and their recognition still has its importance to a Chinese.
The Paper: Do you also feel like winning glory for the country?
Shen Wei: Yes, this feeling is even stronger abroad. Others will look at you with the eyes of "you represent Chinese", and you will warn yourself not to embarrass yourself, not to embarrass Chinese, and to fight for anger. Especially like me, I am always seen, said, clicked on, and evaluated by others, and it is immediately related to your history, your culture, and your background.
Sonic, 1999
Ladder, 2000
The Festival of Spring, 2003
Connection Conversion, 2005
Map, 2005
The Paper: After going to the United States, you quickly stood out, starting from a high starting point, did you ever encounter discrimination among Asian faces?
Shen Wei: There are many of them. Competing with foreigners in a strange place, you don't know their culture, you have to learn more, master more, pay more, in order to get the opportunity to let people recognize you.
You see me succeeding abroad, why did I succeed? In fact, it is not easy, let alone born, no money, no background, I started everything from scratch, through all kinds of efforts.
The Paper: Have there been any times when I've felt particularly difficult over the years?
Shen Wei: It's difficult, it has never stopped. Even today at the American Dance Festival, I find it difficult because I want to break through every time, and I want to sublimate all the experiences I have accumulated in the past.
Running alone in the world and working in different places, I have to overcome many difficulties in life, and I also have to overcome the difficulties of dealing with different people, after all, the cultural background between people is different.
But I am not afraid of difficulties. After decades of honing, for me, there is no difficult thing in the world, as long as I am interested in doing it, it will not be difficult for me.
The Paper: In addition to the difficulties in creation, you also mentioned the difficulties in life, which I rarely heard you talk about before.
Shen Wei: When I met my friends yesterday, they couldn't believe it, I have been buying and cooking by myself, going out to buy vegetables at least twice a week, and the family does not ask my aunt to clean up, I do it myself. Furniture, curtains, pillows, I also make my own. In paris and New York, I went to the cloth store to buy my favorite cloth and color, cut it myself, and sewed it by hand.
I have a very strong ability to live, and if you put me in any country, you can definitely handle it alone.
I am completely independent in life, just like in creation, I must have the ability to face everything independently, in order to control the whole, relying on others will be very passive. I'm used to coming and going alone, generally without an assistant, unless it's necessary for work, and will use one for a short time.
Life is completely self-managed, but also let me have a space for independent thinking, doing housework can also allow me to change my thinking, relax, regulate emotions, and feel life.
The Paper: You are used to being alone, but your job requires you to deal with all kinds of people, is it painful?
Shen Wei: So I am always alone in life, because I am afraid of noise. My personality is quieter and more homely, and I don't like social or group life. Dealing with people too much at work is actually very energy-consuming, and after the work is over, I hope to have an independent personal space.
The Paper: Looking back, when you went to New York alone in 1995, did you feel that you were particularly brave at that time, and did you have any worries and fears about the future at that time?
Shen Wei: Why are they willing to be young people? Seeing difficulties and not being afraid may be the only benefit of young people's impulsiveness.
At that time, when I left Guangzhou for the United States, I also made a long period of ideological preparation, many challenges, has been brewing how to face, how to survive, and I am very excited and excited to think that I can exercise and learn in a new environment. At that time, I had nothing, my English was not good, and I completely put myself in the most passive state to face everything. Because you are young, you have the motivation, you don't feel difficult, and the idea of challenging yourself is also very strong. When you are older, you will do things slowly, not as brave as when you were young.
The Paper: Will you be very grateful to yourself at that time?
Shen Wei: I am very grateful for my curiosity, and I am willing to pay the price in order to be able to learn something. Calligraphy, opera, Chinese painting, oil painting, dance... Every time I learn a new thing, I have to face new challenges, and the desire to learn makes me patient and resilient.
I left my parents at the age of 9 to go to the Hunan Provincial Art School and only returned to my parents' house twice a year. From a young age, he survived alone, sewed and patched up by himself, did not have pampering habits, and exercised the spirit of independent learning.
My sensitivity to beauty is also slowly learned and cultivated, from calligraphy, opera, Chinese painting, oil painting, to dance, to movies, all of which have subtly improved my understanding of beauty.
The Paper: Is there anything regrettable so far?
Shen Wei: The regret is that I am afraid that I did not do a good job of desk work when I was creating, and if I don't have enough time, you won't study deeply enough.
Picture Scroll, 2008
Points and Combinations, 2011
Still Moving, 2011
The Poetry of Bran, 2013
Neither Is It Each Other, 2016
The Man in the Garden, 2017
"Man is an interesting high-class animal, like a mystery"
The Paper: In 2021, your immersive art scene "Rong" is very sensational in Shanghai, and the 10 exhibition venues are full, are you very inspired?
Shen Wei: The creative process of "Rong" is very difficult. Speaking of the "I Ching", you may soon think of black and white gossip, there are rules and regulations in my head, I am presenting the relationship between people and the world from another perspective, using modern artistic expression techniques to convey the most far-reaching philosophical ideas and world outlook of traditional Chinese culture.
Everyone who has seen it knows that its volume, its content, its depth, and its richness are not simply a group of people who can be done hastily.
I retreated for 5 months in a small town in Lingshui, Hainan, brought a few boxes of books, read books while studying, and when I was tired, I would draw and play the piano for a while. I don't know anyone there, I can't see people, the sea is outside the window, I want to buy vegetables and cook, I have to take a taxi out. What's harder is that the team that has followed me for many years is trapped in New York and Paris, and I have to rebuild the production team and use a new cast in Shanghai, which all needs to be run-in.
Because the Isabella Garner Museum of Art in Boston had one of my big solo exhibitions closed, I left early and didn't follow every show throughout. The response was so good in the end, very happy! The Shanghai audience is very enthusiastic, and it has also mobilized the enthusiasm of many people to think about problems in a different way of thinking.
The Paper: "Rong" is divided into three parts: exhibition, video and performance, and the immersive performance of the third act is too shocking. We have rarely had the experience of being so close to the dancers before, nervous, shy, and uneasy, but we couldn't help but be attracted to them and couldn't take our eyes off them.
Shen Wei: This is the most important point of live performance, which can never be replaced by video and other forms of expression. Flesh and blood people show the artistic magnetic field and artistic power in front of you, and you see the three-dimensional, moving soul with your own eyes, which is more shocking than any artistic medium. So be sure to let the audience feel it up close, it turns out that art can be so touching.
Man is the main actor of this world, very interesting high-level animals that can be mined infinitely, like a mystery. The third act is to explore the "unity of heaven and man", with people as the center, each audience is not independent, may forget themselves, completely integrated into it, and dialogue with the environment and heaven and earth.
The Paper: You did "Rong" with a purpose, to lead Chinese dancers, to open their bodies, to broaden their thinking, and finally to feel that they have changed? Everyone talks about you with respect from the bottom of their hearts.
Shen Wei: The changes are very big, and I am very happy to see their progress and breakthroughs.
From day one, I taught intimately, poured all my experience into it, treated them like my own children, and let them learn more in a very short period of time, to realize more aspects of themselves that they had not discovered. In the rehearsals, I personally do the demonstration, not verbally pointing, they can feel my all-round commitment, dedication, and sincerity. We got along very well, they didn't feel at me any distance, they were inspired and infected by the closeness, and they had a lot of fun dancing and enjoyed themselves.
The Paper: From 2014 to 2021, you will bring important works to Shanghai every two or three years, including dances and paintings. At the beginning, your performance attendance did not meet expectations, and now you have a lot of iron fans.
Shen Wei: Everything has a process of understanding, at the beginning everyone does not know much and may not care much, after reading it, I feel good, a pass of ten to ten hundred, next time there will be more people to come.
This is not overnight, but the result of long-term brewing and long-term cultivation. And Shanghai audiences, Shanghai partners, Shanghai's cultural and artistic circles slowly established an understanding, will emerge the current state.
The Paper: Will there be more original works for Shanghai in the future, such as "Rong"?
Shen Wei: There will be. "Rong" is likely to return to Shanghai next year. Last year, 10 shows, the field was full, each one actually added an audience, or many people want to see it. At that time, I wanted to add a scene, but it was too late in all aspects, because there were too many people involved. Hopefully coming back next year for more viewers to watch and experience, we've had more experience and I'll see where we can do better.
The performance is still at the West Bund Dome Art Centre. "Rong" is created in line with that circular space, because the architectural elements of the circle, and the circle of gossip and the concept of "heaven" in Chinese culture, must be such a space.
Commissioned by the Shanghai International Arts Festival Center in China, Rong will have its world premiere at the Dome of the Arts Centre on Shanghai's West Bund in June 2021. The Surging News reporter Li Sijie figured
The Paper: Invited by China Oriental Performing Arts Group and Meishan Song and Dance Theater, at the end of August, you will return to China to create a rehearsal of "Dongpo", what kind of Chinese work will you bring to you?
Shen Wei: With my artistic style, I will not make a narrative story work, but it must be about traditional Chinese culture, and it is related to the current civilization and human society.
I received an invitation at the beginning of the year, and I have been reading books, and I see that now, I read Su Shi's poems and biographies, and understand the environment and background at that time. I spent seven or eight months revisiting traditional Chinese culture, studying Chinese poetry, Chinese philosophy, Chinese aesthetics, and Chinese rhythms.
Without poetry, there would be no Su Shi, so many poems, how to choose, how to pass? It is not easy to transform the words in literature into dance and visual arts.
When I was found, I was half excited, half worried, too hard to touch. I've done so much in China, how do I present it? A lot of pressure. I grew up loving traditional Chinese culture, feeling that it was worth it, and it was very meaningful, so well, I accepted the challenge. From directing, writing, choreographing to visual design, I have to do it myself, try to use all my past experience to work hard, can be done is a great progress.
After returning to China at the end of August, he will stay for at least half a year. Come back to continue to learn, a lot of information to check in the country, has not yet selected actors, has not yet formed a team, all aspects of creation is still zero.
My "Shengxi" is also derived from Lao Tzu's text, whether Chinese or foreigners, young people or old people, they all like it. I hope to bring traditional Chinese culture to a larger and broader world.
The Paper: Now that you have settled in Paris, from New York to Paris, have the two artistic arts brought you different nutrients?
Shen Wei: In 2017, I settled down in Paris with a residence and a studio. New York also has it, and when there is a job, it flies over. I am quite similar to Su Shi, he does not have a fixed home, I am also home from all over the world, China, the United States, Europe three places back and forth. He also likes calligraphy, painting, food, and so do I, and I love life very much.
Paris and New York are completely different. The art of New York is more focused on the present and the future, Paris is more macroscopic, the historical is stronger, from the past to the present and the future are taken into account, because the history of France is long, and the generalization is more and more comprehensive.
The Paper: Tell us about your daily life in Paris.
Shen Wei: I get up at seven o'clock in the morning and go for a run in the park, try to run three or four times a week, go home to make breakfast after running, or eat on the road, and come back to practice the guqin. Work in the morning, study, draw, write, cut films. Lunch is sometimes eaten at home, 15 minutes can be done, sometimes buy a sandwich, read in the park for an hour in the sun, come back and play the violin. Work continued in the afternoon. At five o'clock, I had a simple dinner, played the piano, sometimes went to the park for a walk, sometimes replied to email, returned To WeChat, and handled administrative work. Watch the news at night, go to bed at half past ten, and go to bed at nine o'clock when you are the hardest, because there are many things in the morning.
I also go out two or three times a week to buy food and take French lessons twice a week, and I don't have enough time every day!
The Paper: When you're not working, do you take a walk around Paris, like going to an art museum to see an exhibition or having coffee in a café?
Shen Wei: I will watch the exhibition, but not every day, at most once a week. In the morning, I will drink coffee when I eat breakfast on the side of the road, and I usually don't run outside to drink, I have to work, and I don't have enough time. I came to Paris to create and study, not to drink coffee.
I don't see my friends very much, I see them at most once a month, sometimes once every two or three months, and some friends can't see each other once every six months. I don't want to meet people in the middle of my creation and research, and I want to stay in my own state and frequency unless something is very important. I don't feel lonely, I'm not a kid, I'm going to play with a group of people.
(Intern Wang Also contributed to this article)
Editor-in-Charge: Chen Shihuai
Proofreader: Luan Meng