techniques from which he began to develop his own movement language. Shen Wei also performed for Murray Louis and was part of four of Martha Clarke's productions. Additionally, he began creating works for the American Dance Festival and Alvin Ailey II. In 1997, Cloud Gate Dance Theater toured his revised version of "The Bed" commissioned by American Dance Festival in 1995. He also toured his one-man show "Small Room" at The Palace Theater in London, The Asia Society in NYC and Hollins College in VA. Dance and visual work in conjunction with minimalism and surrealism (1999–2001) After 5 years of living in New York, Shen Wei began to develop a style of movement that has been described as "enigmatic" and "dream-like", and which is exemplified by "Folding" (2000), "Near The Terrace, Part I & II" (2000–2001) "Behind Resonance" (2001). According to Anna Kisselgoff, in these early pieces, the surrealist aesthetic emerges as a result of a disruption in what Shen Wei calls, "natural elements," such as regular breathing cycles, which affects the quality of movement in dancers. Folding and Near the Terrace have also been described as "kinetic tableus,"; the entire dance space characterized by swathes of color and sculptural movement. In 2000 after his premiere of "Near The Terrace" at the American Dance Festival (19) he formed his New York-based company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, which went on to tour at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Switzerland Steps Festival in 2002. Use of abstraction in choreography, music, and visual arts (2003–2005) In 2003, Shen Wei reinterpreted Stravinsky's "Rite Of Spring", creating a piece that is accompanied by Fazıl Say's fourhanded piano version of the Stravinsky's score. Divorcing itself from any narrative element, the "stripped-to-the-bone abstraction" places emphasis on the structural power in the music, dance and visual setting. The piece had its New York debut at the Lincoln Center Festival in 2003. Shen Wei and his company also made their Australian debut at the 2005 Sydney Festival with Folding and Rite of Spring at the Sydney Opera House. Shen Wei's "Connect Transfer" uses music by Iannis Xenakis, Kevin Volans and Gyorgy Ligeti. The work explores "internal and external body movements, as well as energy transitions," and is a synthesis of music, dance, painting, and sculpture. "Map" is a musically inspired piece created with Steve Reich's, The Desert Music, and is accompanied with visual