Shen Wei Dance Arts and Pianist Di Wu Featured in Destination China Series

Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts to Present Di Wu and Shen Wei Dance Arts at the new Virginia G. Piper Theater

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) – As part of its Destination China series, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts will present pianist Di Wu on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. and Shen Wei Dance Arts on Saturday, Feb. 13, at 8 p.m.

Tickets for both Di Wu’s concert ($24) and Shen Wei Dance Arts’ performance ($47) are available online at www.ScottsdalePerformingArts.org or through the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ box office at (480) 994-ARTS (2787).

Recently singled out by Musical America as a young artist to watch, Di Wu was a finalist at the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2009, where she earned widespread praise for her inspired performance. Her program will include Granados’ Goyescas; Schoenberg’s Six Little Piano Pieces, Op. 19; Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No. 2 in D minor, Op. 14; and Debussy’s Preludes, Book 2.

Shen Wei Dance Arts captivated the world with its imaginative performance at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Under the visionary leadership of Artistic Director Shen Wei, this dynamic young company melds modern dance with theater, Chinese opera, philosophy, art and architecture.

Shen Wei Dance Arts will mark its Scottsdale debut performing selections from The Re- Triptych, including Part I: Tibet, a deeply personal and spiritual dance incorporating traditional Tibetan chants and a stunning, full-stage mandala, and Part III: The New Silk Road, a celebration of China’s vast and divergent religious traditions, languages and cultural histories.

LECTURE
The Shen Wei Dance Arts performance also will include a lecture (free with ticket purchase) by Alison M. Friedman at 7 p.m. Currently an arts-management fellow at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Friedman is the leading expert on modern dance in China and, from 2005 to 2008, served as international director of the Beijing Modern Dance Company. She will discuss the current situation of modern dance in China in the context of domestic economic forces and market pressures from abroad, as well as issues of individual expression and artists’ search for a ‘modern Chinese’ identity/voice.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Shen Wei Dance Arts is presented with support from Betty Hum and Alan Yudell and media sponsor Desert Living. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and was made possible by the MetLife Community Connections Fund of the National Dance Project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Major support for the National Dance Project is also provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from the Ford Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

LOCATION AND PARKING
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts is located at 7380 E. Second St. in downtown Scottsdale, four blocks south of Indian School Road and three blocks east of Scottsdale Road. Free parking is available in the public parking garage located to the west of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and directly behind Los Olivos restaurant on Wells Fargo Avenue. Additional free parking is available at the Old Town Parking Corral at East Second Street and Brown Avenue and at the Civic Center Library parking garage located on Drinkwater Boulevard at East Second Street.

ACCESSIBILITY
Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers performance accommodations to enhance audience members’ experience, including: American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation or live audio description with two weeks advance notice. Assisted listening devices and wheelchair seating are always available. Visit the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ Web site at www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org or contact the patron services box office at (480) 994-ARTS ext. 2 [TDD: (480) 874-4694] for further details. Please inquire about services when ordering tickets.

GROUP AND STUDENT DISCOUNTS
Attend with family and friends, or bring a group from your business, civic or religious organization. Save $3 per ticket and at least $30 in handling fees when purchasing 15 or more tickets to the same event (subject to availability; some restrictions apply). Instead of $2.50 per single ticket, the handling fee is only $7.50 total for group orders. Full-time students may purchase half-price tickets one hour before events/performances (subject to availability; limit one single ticket per full-time student; some restrictions apply). Must present current valid student I.D. in person at the patron services box office. No phone orders.

SCOTTSDALE CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
Opened in 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents a dynamic, culturally diverse season of dance, jazz, classical and world music, theater and satire. Approximately 2,000 performances, educational programs, festivals and other events are showcased annually serving more than 300,000 people and contributing substantially to Scottsdale’s high quality of life and vibrant arts scene. Performances take place in the Center’s newly renovated 848-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater and 137-seat Stage 2 as well as the 2,000-seat amphitheater on the grounds of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall. The Center’s youth education and outreach programs reach more than 50,000 school children each year, and its free events are available to the entire public. The Center also produces the award-winning Scottsdale Arts Festival every March; Sunday A’Fair, a series of free outdoor music festivals held on Sunday afternoons from January to April; and Native Trails, a collaboration with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that features free demonstrations of Native American arts and culture from January to April. Open daily and during performances, The Store @ Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts offers hand-crafted jewelry, accessories for the home, imaginative toys, recordings, books, greeting cards and more.

The Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is contracted by the City of Scottsdale, Ariz., to administer certain City arts and cultural projects and to manage the City-owned Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Public Art Program. The programs of the Scottsdale Cultural Council are made possible, in part, by the support of members and donors and grants received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts through appropriations from the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Published on behalf of Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
7380 E. Second St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Box Office: (480) 994-ARTS (2787) ext. 2
TDD: (480) 874-4694
Web: www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org
E-mail: info@sccarts.org
Fax: (480) 874-4699

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