Western culture under the microscope in Three Sixty Five

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Three Sixty Five by Wen Wei Dance
Theatre Junction Grand
Wednesday, April 15 - Saturday, April 18

More in: Dance

Wen Wei Wang is a dance artist that opens doors for audiences — in his latest work, he does this by borrowing from an old Baroque concerto: Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. His company’s new work, Three Sixty Five, presented by Theatre Junction, promises an exploration of themes of life and death, using Vivaldi’s most famous work as its starting point.

Born in mainland China, Wang is inspired by Canada’s multicultural context. While he often draws from his own experiences as an outsider, he says this piece is not focused on an individual’s experiences, it is something more universal. Three Sixty Five explores the colours and emotions everyone may experience on life’s journey — through a year and through a day (hence the title).

Three Sixty Five is performed by three men and three women and comprised of highly kinetic group, solo, duet and trio sections. It is reflective of the emotional intention of the parts and very much about human relations, according to Grant Strate, chairman of the Wen Wei Dance Society. “This is not a conventional Four Seasons. The music is a deconstruction of the Vivaldi score… the seasons as such are not recognizable in a conventional way. The mood changes are palpable, but not directly related to the seasons,” he says.

Strate invited Wang to come to Canada to participate in a summer dance intensive headed by choreographer Peggy Baker in 1991. During Wang's subsequent 17 years in Canada, he has spent 12 as a professional dancer, created his company Wen Wei Dance and created and performed works — including Unbound (recently presented at Theatre Junction) — based on his research into contemporary movement, his classic ballet training, and his roots in Chinese classical dance. Wang’s pieces often explore his own cultural identity from China, but Three Sixty Five explores his understanding of another culture through its music. “In other pieces I explored the culture and history of my life experience in China,” he says. “I have been here for over 17 years in Canada, and my composer is from Italy, so we talked about putting some of [western] culture to our work. So that’s how we started. The piece is not really about the seasons, the piece is about our everyday life.”

“In many different cultures, we all hear this music,” says Wang of his choice to use Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as a starting point.

His collaborator, composer Giorgio Magnanensi, an Italian based in Canada, had an intense familiarity with Vivaldi from his country of birth. For both artists, the project became a fine example of working together. Wang was interested in exploring his understanding of western culture, and Magnanensi was fascinated about working within a new context for Vivaldi’s work. For Three Sixty Five, Magnanensi wrote a new score — with moments when a Vivaldi melody might seep in through otherwise new music.

“Wen Wei and Giorgio have collaborated on three previous works and they know each other very well,” says Strate. “First they talk. Then they separate and work on their own until the choreographic draft is ready. Then Giorgio submits a number of musical options for Wen Wei to choose from. From then on they are closely connected through to the performances.”

Critics have described Wang’s choreography as radiating layers of subtext, and as hauntingly beautiful. In Three Sixty Five, Wang is investigating a physical language, as well as interpreting a culture. It is Vivaldi with a darker twist — physical precision carving out space on an otherwise barren stage.