When dance becomes a living emotional canvas

In the luminous spaces of the Guangzhou Grand Theatre, internationally acclaimed artist Shen Wei will unveil his latest work, MindScape, a collaboration between the Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Shen Wei Dance Arts. The work will premiere on June 5 and 6, before traveling to the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, in July and later to Lincoln Center's Summer for the City in Dance Encounters, a new outdoor series, during Chinese Arts Week in New York from July 22-25.

MindScape is the latest chapter in Shen's decades-long artistic exploration, blending modern dance with poetry, painting, calligraphy, and live music.

But this work is perhaps one of his most introspective yet, drawing on the philosophical ideals of Chinese literati and the spiritual pursuit of harmony between humanity and nature.

"MindScape is about my inner landscape," says Shen, a choreographer, painter and visual artist. "It reflects how I face life — success, hardship, and the balance needed to keep moving forward. This series is about the power of thought and spirit over material concerns."

The production merges traditional Chinese music with contemporary soundscapes, featuring guqin (a seven-stringed Chinese zither) virtuoso Zhao Xiaoxia, xiao (Chinese vertical bamboo flute) player Liu Xiaogang, percussionist Chen Shijie, and electronic music.

"I want people to feel happy, uplifted," Shen says. "This project is about making traditional instruments, like the guqin and xiao, feel contemporary, fresh and pleasurable."

The genesis of the work spans two continents. Last year, Shen began experimental workshops in the United States, developing movement vocabularies with American dancers while collaborating with Chinese musicians on an original score.

This year, five dancers from the US joined seven from China and worked together in the studio in Guangzhou, while the traditional instruments were reimagined in a modern context. "I've long been exploring contemporary expression of ancient instruments," Shen notes. "This is an international project — artists from China and the US collaborating to create a shared vision."

The choreography reflects Shen's signature approach, encouraging movement to emerge organically from dancers' internal impulses. But this time, the work also incorporates live painting and calligraphy: the stage floor will be covered in canvas, allowing dancers to leave traces of color and ink through movement. "Every performance becomes a 'mindscape' painting," he says. "It's about life, joy, struggle, and the energy we create together."

Traveling around the world to work with international artists on diverse art projects, Shen, a New York and Paris-based artist, is known for his work at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He choreographed the breathtakingly beautiful dance piece, Scroll Painting, in which dancers performed on a constantly changing LED scroll of Chinese ink-and-wash paintings, depicting the evolution of China since ancient times.

Shen's relationship with the Guangdong Modern Dance Company is deeply personal. "This is my mother troupe," he says. "I arrived here over 30 years ago, in 1989. Returning to create this work is both a homecoming and an opportunity to reconnect tradition with the present."