Performances: Mar 8-10

International acclaimed choreographer Shen Wei returns to the Kennedy Center with his latest contemporary operatic dance Dongpo: Life in Poems. It is produced and performed by the China Oriental Performing Arts Group with live guqin music by Zhao Xiaoxia. The production is based on the poetry and life experiences of the renowned Chinese poet Su Dongpo (1037–1101) who lived in the Song Dynasty, and transforms the comprehension of poetry into self-perception, then externalizes it through body movement and audiovisual contemporary expressions. Mr. Shen Wei is the director, playwright, set/costume designer, and visual effects art director of this operatic dance production. The creative team includes the Chinese-French composer Chen Qigang, the music director of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games; and Xiao Lihe, lighting designer of the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games who graduated from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, and studied under lighting designer Prof. Jin Changlie, Jennifer Tipton, and Ming Cho Lee.