In China today, dance and new media are merging in experimental choreographies for the stage, open-air spaces, galleries, and other site-specific works. In this talk, Tian Tian will discuss recent trends in Chinese contemporary stage performance and choreography through a review of her own recent stage productions. As a practitioner and researcher of Chinese classical dance, Tian draws on historical artifacts, texts, paintings, and operatic theater to create her dance works. She is the creator of a dance movement system based on Liyuan opera, as well as a leading young choreographer in the field of Han-Tang style Chinese classical dance. Her recent series "YONG," inspired by Chinese tomb statues, has received praise from across the dance world in China and represents a merging of classical forms with contemporary media aesthetics. Tian's dance films have recently won awards in Latin America and Europe. Tian will also discuss her experiences working on the artistic team of renowned filmmaker and director Zhang Yimou.

Tian Tian is a choreographer, scholar, and teacher with a specialization in Chinese classical dance, dance and new media, and design and aesthetics. Tian received her undergraduate and master's degrees in Han-Tang Chinese Classical Dance at the Beijing Dance Academy in under the direction of the renowned choreographer and scholar Sun Ying. In 2015, Tian received her PhD from Peking University under the direction of eminent scholar of Chinese aesthetics Ye Lang. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow of Design Science in the School of Design, Hunan University, specializing in Indoor and Outdoor Mega-Event Directing/choreography under the supervision of Zhang Yimou and He Renke. 
Tian is the author or editor of three books and more than thirty academic papers. She is also an award-winning choreographer. Tian's works have been commissioned or sponsored by the China Dancers Association, China National Arts Fund (CNAF) Young Art Talents Creation Project, CNAF Dance Creation Project, Beijing Culture and Arts Fund Work Creation Project, and others. Her representative works include short dance drama “The Role,” dance duet "Co-Existence," group dance "YONG," suite dance "YONG II," etc. Tian's recent research project "The Imaginative Reshaping of Ethnic Body" was selected for the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) Youth of Art Science Project. In 2014-15, Tian was a visiting scholar in the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati.

Note: This talk will be given in Chinese with interpretation by Emily Wilcox, Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Studies, University of Michigan