East meets modern

Dancers from the Guangdong Modern Dance Company and Shanghai's Xiexin Dance Theater will also perform in Integrate.

Xie Xin, winner of Dance Smash last year and founder of the Xiexin Dance Theater, spoke of her decision in taking her team to join Integrate.

"Shen has been a lighthouse for me－from my school years to becoming a dancer and establishing my own company," says Xie at the media conference announcing the new production. "He is a mentor that I always trust, and a Chinese artist that we are proud of."

Shen has made several performances in Shanghai since 2008. This time, organizers of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival have invited him to create Integrate as part of the festival's new arm ARTRA.

ARTRA was introduced as a "playground with no boundaries", and aims to attract a younger audience to the city's live performing scene. It will consist of live concerts, new media theater shows, art markets and other events in the coming two months.

Li Ming, director of the CSIAF center, says it has introduced high-quality theater art projects to the public for more than 20 years. However, the majority of the audience attending CSIAF has been mature people.

"Everyone in the industry has given a lot of thought to the future of live theater, especially after the pandemic," says Li, explaining the center's decision to launch ARTRA. "We believe it is important to engage the young and new audience, who will bring drastic changes to the industry."