Award-winning dance company to grace Pingshan

La Biennale di Venezia (the Venice Biennale), with a history dating back to 1895, is one of the world’s most important art exhibitions. The biennale’s Silver Lion is an award that recognizes promising artists and institutions that have distinguished themselves for cultivating new talents in areas including theater, music and dance, and this year, the Silver Lion Award for Dance goes to the Chinese contemporary dance company TAO Dance Theater.

The award will be conferred to the company during this year’s Biennale Danza (the International Festival of Contemporary Dance), which will take place in Italy’ Venice in July. Also at the festival, the company will bring “11,” “13” and “14,” three new works of their “Numerical Series,” to the stage of Teatro Malibran in Venice.

Be thrilled if you are a fan of TAO Dance Theater or a lover of contemporary dance in Shenzhen, as the company will greet the city with “13” and “14” at Pingshan Theater in early April.

Members of TAO Dance Theater perform "14."

Founded by Tao Ye, Duan Ni and Wang Hao in 2008, TAO Dance Theater is the first contemporary dance company from China to be invited to perform at many of the world’s major art events and prestigious stages such as the Lincoln Center Art Festival in New York, the Edinburgh International Art Festival, the Sydney Opera House and the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris. Their “Numerical Series” works, highlighting simple body aesthetics, have fascinated audience members in over 40 countries and regions.

Members of TAO Dance Theater perform "13."

At Pingshan Theater, their performance will feature “13” in the first half and “14” in the second half, the first time for the company to present two new works at the same performance, as the number 1314’s Chinese meaning of “eternity and everlasting” conveys the company’s best wishes to the audience members.

“Forsaking narrative, message and elaborate stage design in their work, Tao Ye and Duan Ni have built a unique and evolutionary dance genre that has enraptured with a mesmeric, minimalist force. Their company TAO Dance Theater has committed to a stripped-back, ‘pure dance’ aesthetic, eliminating any categorization of movement, and by extension, of themselves,” states Wayne McGregor, director of the dance department of La Biennale di Venezia, in his motivation for this year’s Silver Lion Award for Dance. If you are also curious about what the dances he speaks highly of are like, remember to meet TAO Dance Theater at Pingshan Theater this weekend.

Ticket: 80/180/280/380 yuan, or 498 yuan for two tickets of 380 yuan

Time: 3 p.m., April 9 (Sunday)

Length: 85 minutes (including a 20-minute intermission)

Venue: Pingshan Theater, Pingshan District (坪山区坪山大剧院)

Metro: Line 14 to Pingshan Square Station (坪山广场站), Exit D1 then walk around 700 meters