Dancing on the Edge opener Barocco Rave grows out of Wen Wei Wang's creative Italian connection
Residencies in Vancouver and Siena build a two-part show by Wen Wei Dance and
Photo by Wen Wei Wang
Dancing on the Edge Festival presents Wen Wei Dance and Compagnia ADARTE’s Barocco Rave at the Firehall Arts Centre on July 6 at 7 pm and on July 7 at 9 pm
WHEN STIR REACHES accomplished Vancouver choreographer Wen Wei Wang by Zoom, he’s sitting at a cafe table in a gorgeous historic square in Siena, relaxing in the shade during a 32-degree heat wave. He’s excited to talk to Stir about a big new creation that has an Italian connection—but also about what’s happening across the piazza, where crowds are pushing to get into a centuries-old church. “Come on, let’s see what’s going on!” he says, running across the square with his camera phone on, then pointing the lens in at the ceremony inside the doors.
That’s Wang: a true citizen of the world, with an openness and driving cultural curiosity that’s taken him from childhood dance training in Lanzhou and studying choreography in Beijing to performing for Ballet BC in the 1990s to establishing his own, bold company Wen Wei Dance. With his own troupe, he has often drawn inspiration from his home culture—whether that’s been featuring the lotus shoes of foot-binding in the sensually striking Unbound or integrating contemporary dancers from China in the serene Under the Skin. More recently, he’s taken on the artistic directorship at Ballet Edmonton, and, now, at Dancing on the Edge, he’s diving into a collaboration with Italian choreographer Francesca Lettieri, and her Compagnia ADARTE.
At 60, the still youthful artist seems as creatively inspired as ever.
He felt instantly connected to Italy, spending time here creating the work in a studio on the outskirts of Siena, with the dancers and creative team staying with him in a villa on a hill during the residency.
“Even though we have different cultural backgrounds, we all believe the art is important in our life and we want to create art,” he begins. “You know, Marco Polo came to China first—and now we argue over who made pasta: Italy or China.
“I love Siena. It has that ancient feeling of the old city and walls where I grew up, in Xi’an,” he adds of his ancient birth city, home to the famous terra-cotta soldiers.
Dancing on the Edge fans will finally get to see the premiere of their unique double bill, Barocco Rave, after a long pandemic postponement; the show opens the fest at the Firehall Arts Centre. Wang is in Sienna with the Canadian dancers—Arianna Barr, Alexis Fletcher, Adrian De Leeuw, and Matthew Wyllie—who will perform both pieces on the program: Lettieri’s BEAT ARMONICO and Wang’s RE | BUILD | US. Local sound designer Sammy Chien, lighting designer Jonathan Kim, and costume designer Linda Chow are there working with them too.
Wang met Lettieri at a European dance festival in 2017, and they formed an instant connection—the Vancouver artist immediately drawn to her honesty and humour, and the way she “pushes boundaries in movement”. They long talked about collaborating, Lettieri finally coming to Vancouver at the beginning of May for a two-week residency at Dance Centre with the local team.
“To work on one piece is really hard–that’s what we made really clear early on: I wanted her to bring her own voice,” Wang explains of their approach of building two “juxtaposed halves” on the program. “But because I was in the studio watching her rehearsals, I got a lot of inspiration from her piece.”
Choreographer Wen Wei Wang.
One of those inspirations was Baroque music, which Wang had never worked with before. Lettieri uses it throughout the score for her piece exploring the deep invisible connections between individuals. Mirroring her use of it, Wang takes it and gives it a modern edge, working with Chien to integrate clubby, DJ rave beats in his score, for a piece that explores the idea of rebuilding after the isolation of the pandemic.
“My piece has laughing, crying, screaming–and Francesca’s uses the voice, too, screaming and laughing,” Wang adds of the pieces’ similarities. “Hers is very physical too.”
Barocco Rave has ended up encapsulating a lot of what Wang and Lettieri are feeling coming out of the pandemic—and what can happen when artists are able to travel again to collaborate with each other, too.
“The journey, I think, is crazy and colourful–it’s something you don’t expect,” Wang says before heading off into the Siena sunshine again. “Francesca’s piece has these colourful street clothes; in my piece I want to showcase the body, with shorts and sports bras—and then wigs and sunglasses at the end!
“I think at the end of the pandemic we want to have colour and celebration,” adds the artist. “It’s suffering and joy and joy and suffering. It’s how we rebuild to start again.”
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