Wen Wei Dance
Ying Yun
Photo credits: Chris Randle
Wen Wei Dance
Wen Wei Dance’s work reflects a multiplicity of dance and social experiences. Each creation is influenced by the evolution of personal identity, and strives to reflect the underlying experience of social, cultural and personal development. Wen Wei Dance creates provocative performances of a distinctive trans-cultural sensibility. With a highly individual style, Artistic Director Wen Wei Wang fuses precise choreography with stunning visual design and music, turning each work into a rich and unique world. Since 2003 the company has created a repertoire of full-length works including Two, Ying Yun, Dialogue, Made in China, 7th Sense, Cock-Pit (Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award winner), Under the Skin (co-created with the Beijing Modern Dance Company), Three Sixty Five, Unbound (Isadora Award for Excellence in Choreography winner), One Man’s, and Tao. Wen Wei Dance has performed these acclaimed works across Canada and at festivals around the world.
Ying Yun
This work raises the platform of choreographing to five female performers. The creative process involved dialogues between Ying Yun’s dancers and artistic director Wen Wei Wang, with the aim to translate their stories into movement. Ying Yun is the name of Wen Wei Wang’s mother, who passed away four years ago from ovarian cancer. A significant influence on him becoming an artist, Wang dedicates the new creation to her and engages the dancers to interpret the story, and in turn share their intersectional experiences. Aurally, the piece focuses on silence and the breathing of the dancers, but also features remixes of Bach compositions with an electroacoustic score. The minimalist sound design with a focus on the dancers’ breathing will allow the piece to focus on the dancers and their expression of the work’s subject.
Photo credits: Emily Cooper
Performance History of Ying Yun
Wen Wei Dance is picking up where the company left off when the pandemic forced the postponement of the ‘Ying Yun’ tour in early 2020. Despite restrictions, we made the best of an unprecedented situation with the following activities. Wen Wei Wang created a short solo for Northwest Dance Project Portland Oregon in October 2020 (through zoom). In November 2020 he was also involved in creating a new work for Lamondance Company in North Vancouver, which was filmed and lifestream online. There was a digital presentation of the Wen Wei Dance work, ‘Made in China’ as part of Asian Heritage Month in May 2021. There was also the live premiere of ‘Two’ at the Dancing on the Edge festival (DOTE) in July 2021.
Upcoming presentation dates include: Oliver, BC - September 30, 2021: ‘Ying Yun’ at the Venables Theatre; Salt Spring Island, BC - March 24-25, 2022: ‘Ying Yun’ at Artspring; Halifax, NS - March 30, 2022: ‘Ying Yun’ at Live Art Dance.
Project Details
Project created by: Wen Wei Wang in collaboration with the dancers
Key Collaborators: Choreography: Wen Wei Wang in collaboration with the dancers
Performers: Shion Skye Carter, Stéphanie Cyr, Eowynn Enquist, Sarah Formosa and Daria Mikhaylyuk
Sound, Video, and Lighting Design: Chimerik 似不像 Collective
Sound Designer/Electroacoustic Music: Sammy Chien in collaboration with Wen Wei Wang and the dancers
Video Designer: Sammy Chien
Lighting Designer: Jonathan Kim
Design Assistants: Andie Lloyd and Jill Shao
Costume Designer: Linda Chow
Audiovisual Playback Facilitator: Shang-Han Chien
Audience: General Audience
Length in minutes: 65 minutes - Full length work
Space required: This work is built for the theatre
Preparation required: No
General technical requirements: MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS: A sprung stage surface that is at least 30'-0" deep x 40'-0" wide; PA System with 2 onstage monitors; Lighting System (ETC Family: Ion/Eos/Element/Gio), DMX-controlled, with minimum 80 lighting instruments/circuits; An overhead grid with positions for hanging lights, a projector, and drop down steel pipes for side lighting; A White Cyc or Screen at the back of the stage that extends the width of the stage; 1 Dressing room for 5 performers; Access to towels, machine washer, and machine dryer; 4 hours of pre-hang, 8 hours of setup, and 4 hours of rehearsal with 3 crew before the first performance; Strike of 3 hours with 3-5 crew.
Availabilities: It should be noted that some of the dates listed in the following questions are tentative, and the 2022/23 season onward hasn’t been fully planned at the moment. In addition to this, Artistic Director Wen Wei Wang may be in Edmonton at certain points in the year to fulfill his responsibilities as Artistic Director of Edmonton Ballet.
Available for season 2021/22 except the following dates - November 1 - 30 (TBC): Research for new work in collaboration with Francesca Lettieri (Artistic Director of company ADARTE)
Season 2022/23 is currently unknown. No firm obligations at this time.
Number of performers on tour: 5
Number of support staff on tour: 2 (Audiovisual Playback Facilitator & Stage Manager)
Community Engagement Activities
Wen Wei Wang incorporates workshops and master classes into touring destinations as a way to connect with the local dance community—helping build and strengthen the network of dancers in Canada—as well as bring awareness and appreciation for Canadian dance on an international level. These workshops and master classes typically take place leading up to a presentation and are open to anyone interested in dance. Classes explore various styles and forms including elements of Tai Chi, martial arts, Peking Opera and ballet technique. Through improvisation, dialogue and experiments with physical language, the breath of the rhythm and release technique will be the foundation for creating unique movements to express meanings through the body and mind. Given the style of class, it is recommended that participants have some background in dance. Additional collaborators at workshops often include one or more of the dancers who are available.
Contact: Jonathan@wenweidance.ca
Agent/Manager: Francesca Piscopo, francesca@wenweidance.ca
Website: wenweidance.ca
Facebook: wenweidance
Instagram: wenweidance