Shen Wei traverses cultural bridge

Retzloff has performed in China many times while touring with Shen Wei Dance Arts. As an American performer, she said interpreting works deeply rooted in traditional Chinese art can be both challenging and rewarding.

"As an American performer, I'm very muscular, I'm very athletic, and it took so much work internally to be able to perform the Chinese elements of Shen Wei's work. I had to really change and develop my inner life, to be sensitive and to be able to have ... an inner mindscape that you can really use to transcend yourself to another place," she said, adding that was one of her favorite things about working with Shen — how much it challenged her to "change and grow as a person and as an artist".

Shen's most famous work, Scroll Painting, was performed at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The work demonstrated the close relationship between painting and dance, typical of Shen's approach to art: several dancers creating a huge Chinese ink painting with their bodies watched by the world.

The new works Shen is now creating, which combine dance, painting, writing and music, will tour in both the West and the East next year.