About this Event
Performance Garage's 2022-2023 DanceVisions Resident Artist, Weiwei Ma and her dancers premier '24 Solar Terms'
FREE
Weiwei Ma’s artistic practice, and goals of embracing traditional Chinese culture and exploring Eastern and Western art collisions and integrations impels her upcoming work 24 Solar Terms (working title).
“The goal of my work,” says Weiwei, “is not simply to impose American contemporary dance on Chinese bodies or vice versa, but to find a way to balance the technical and the artistic through my personal experiences and embody artistic values in my work. I combine traditional culture, contemporary views, traditional aesthetics, and contemporary bodies on the stage. Nowadays, choreography is not only about unique movement vocabularies and superb dancers. The alchemy involves aesthetics, drama, technology, physics, spirit, and culture. I’d like to make my piece go beyond physical boundaries to become a way of conveying my artistic philosophy.”
The working title, 24 Solar Terms, refers to 24 terms in the traditional Chinese lunar and solar calendars. These terms reference different phases of life—the past, present and the hope for the future—and serve as a channel to express some Chinese cultural and dance elements. Further, as a recent transplant to Philadelphia, Weiwei wishes to convey the realities of and need for acceptance in a multicultural world. “Nature awakens our ability to embrace change and we must respond in a positive way.”
ABOUT CHOREOGRAPHER WEIWEI MA
Weiwei Ma is a Chinese dance artist, instructor, and choreographer, who started professional dance training at age eleven. She graduated from The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Arts with a BFA degree in choreography. Before coming to Philadelphia, Weiwei taught Chinese classical dance and choreography at Beijing Contemporary Music Academy from 2009 to 2013. Weiwei earned her MFA degree from Temple University in 2016. One of her works was selected for performance at Boyer College in 2015, which she represented at the 2016 ACDFA conference in Brockport, NY. Weiwei has been a member of Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers since 2013 and is the lead Chinese performer for KYL/D’s cultural programs. During the pandemic period, Weiwei has collaborated with Evalina (Wally) Carbonell to produce “Blood” in 2020 for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival; and another collaboration dance work of “Dream Chapter” in 2021.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Performance Garage, 1515 Brandywine Street, Philadelphia, United States
USD 15.00 to USD 25.00