The modern dance&poeticdrama “Poetic Remembrance of Dongpo”, composedbya top creative team including choreographer Shen Wei and composer Chen Qigang, had its world premiere in Shanghai on the evening of July 22.

The work is based on15 piecesfrom more than 3000 poemsby SuShi(also called Su Dongpo,1037-1101, one ofChina’sgreatest poets and essayists, who was also an accomplished calligrapher and a public official)that reflecthislife attitudeand creatively integratingalarge amount of traditional Chinese cultural elements including poem, painting, calligraphy, seal cutting, guqin, opera, martial art into the modern dance. Providinga comprehensive audio-visual experience of music, dance, poetry and painting, the play fully demonstrates therefinedessence of classical Chinese philosophy and aesthetics, finally achievingits goal of carrying outadialogue with Dongpo, the “bosom friend across the time”.

The Chinese stage art work Poetic Remembrance of Dongpo, featuring distinctive contemporaneityand internationality, artistically presentsthe core of Chinese spirit contained in the poems of Su Dongpo. The work was both an elaborateexploration of ancient and profoundtraditional culture as well as an innovative adventuretocombinetraditional culture with modern artistic means and aesthetic concepts.