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Dancing Into Durham

Shen Wei Dance Arts comes to Duke for a two-week residency in January.

After achieving worldwide recognition for choreographing part of the opening ceremony of last summer's Beijing Olympics, Chinese-born choreographer Shen Wei is bringing his talents to Duke.

This month Duke Performances hosts Shen Wei Dance Arts for a two-week residency. From Jan. 12 to Jan. 24, Shen Wei and his company will be involved in a variety of events including lectures and demonstrations, master dance classes and open rehearsals. Many events are free and open to the public. A complete schedule is available online at dukeperformances.org.

"Duke Performances seeks to provide, encourage and facilitate these kinds of residencies so that artistic pieces are being created here at Duke," says Ken Rumble, marketing director of Duke Performances. "The work that Shen Wei one of the most acclaimed choreographers working today will be doing here will be shaped by the Duke community and the Durham community. We want to include as many people in this process as possible through these various open events."

Shen Wei's Durham roots run deep. His company has been a standout at the American Dance Festival (ADF) for the past eight years. He formed his first professional touring company with student dancers who auditioned at ADF in the summer of 2000.

During the residency, Shen Wei will further develop the second and third parts of a trilogy, called Re-, which will premiere at ADF this summer. The residency will culminate in two performances on Jan. 23 and 24 that will include all of Re- (Part 1), sections of Re- (Part 2), and some of the basic ideas behind Re- (Part 3).

Duke Performances is partnering with the Center for Documentary Studies to assemble a team of student videographers to chronicle the residency.

"It's really important to us that we capture the full spectrum of this really fabulous artist working at Duke," says Aaron Greenwald, director of Duke Performances.

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Performance: Shen Wei Dance Arts 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, and Saturday, Jan. 24, Reynolds Industries Theater General tickets are $22-30; $5 for students Information: 660-3357; dukeperformances.org