Shen Wei Dance Arts

Integrating the creation of visual art into live dance performance did not originate with New York–based choreographer Shen Wei. In her 1973 Beach Boys homage, Deuce Coupe, Twyla Tharp incorporated street artists creating real-time graffiti on a blank backdrop behind the dancing. But what is original with Shen Wei’s Connect Transfer is how he employs his company as both instruments of dance and human paint brushes. To begin, Disney Hall’s stage is swathed in blank white fabric — and Wei’s dancers perform with parts of their bodies dipped in paint. As the choreography sets them rolling across the canvas, body parts make contact and transfer paint contrails that by the end of the performance coalesce into a finished work of art. The Flux Quartet provides the live music, and the choreographer himself will discuss his work immediately after each show. For those who were wondering what happens to the completed trapezoidal canvas that results from each performance, the company Web site invites inquiries from acquisitive art collectors. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Fri.-Sat., June 22-23, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., June 24, 2 p.m.; $25-$115. (213) 365-3500 or www.shenweidancearts.org.

Members of the Shen Wei Dance Arts perform Connect Transfer.
(Photo by Stephanie Berger)