Ying Yun

Project Description

Being born at a heated time of gender discourse, this work raises the platform of choreographing to five female performers. The creative process involves 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 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 will focus on silence and the breathing of the dancers, but will also feature 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.

Company Profile

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 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, including Canada Dance Festival, International Contemporary Dance Festival in Colombia, and the Venice Biennale in Italy.

Wen Wei Wang began dancing at an early age in China, where he was born and raised. He trained and danced professionally with the Langzhou Song and Dance Company. In 1991, he came to Canada and joined the Judith Marcuse Dance Company, followed by seven years dancing with Ballet BC. In 2000, he received the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic Award and since then has choreographed for the Alberta Ballet, Ballet BC, Ballet Jorgen, North West Dance Projects, the Vancouver and San Francisco Operas, and Ballet Jazz de Montreal. Wang received the 2006 Isadora Award for Excellence in Choreography, the 2009 Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, the 2013 Chrystal Dance Prize, and a 2013 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award.
In 2003, he founded Wen Wei Dance and has since choreographed eleven full-length works for the company.

Wen Wei Wang is an Associate Dance Artist of the National Arts Centre and the Artistic Director of Ballet Edmonton.

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