The very thing Richmond choreographer Chengxin Wei tried to rid himself of when he first moved to Canada, has in fact become his saving grace.
“When I got (to Canada), I just wanted to get rid of my Chinese (dance) training to become a ballet dancer; I wanted to assimilate to this culture,” said the choreographer who arrived in B.C. 19 years ago.
However, other dancers often questioned his dancing and training style which sparked the “idea of bridging Western and Eastern cultures” through dance.
“I started to appreciate my identity more,” said Wei.
Wei soon found it was his classical Chinese dance training, combined with Western ballet, that took his dance form into a completely new and original direction.
The result is Moving Dragon, a Vancouver-based contemporary dance company which he and his wife, Jessica Jone, founded in 2004.
The company just came off a successful performance of Crossing Mountains, which he explains is a performance that “crosses over modern day Canada and a magical world of pre-historic China, as described in (an) ancient book Shang Hai Jing or in English called the Classic of Mountains and Seas.”
The show which was staged at Vancouver Playhouse is the result of a collaboration with three other co-creators Aeriosa dance society, a vertical dance genre that involves using harnesses while being suspended in the air; Orchid Ensemble, a group that blends eastern and western styles of music; and Chimerik, an interactive multimedia company.
The show is a great opportunity for audiences to experience the different elements of dance, music and multimedia at the same time, said Wei.
In 2016, the choreographer and his wife moved from Vancouver to Richmond.
The vibe of the city gave him the feeling of “being settled” after having moved a lot throughout his dancing career.
“I feel I have more of an identity towards my roots and I think that’s important for me as an artist and as a Canadian,” said Wei.
