designs from Shen Wei's rehearsal sketches of choreographic and music arrangement structures. The work investigates new ways of moving and has a basis in Shen Wei's Natural Body Development technique. Abstraction in painting Shen Wei's study of abstract expressionism is also evident in his visual artworks. Chris Mao, in Movements, writes, "Not concerned with visual impact, [Shen Wei] focused on the energy of his movements, using different kinds of brushes to convey different kinds of movements." "Energies" and "flows" are explored on canvas as a response to auditory stimulus. This particular kind of abstraction, according to Kisselgoff, is to be distinguished from American action painting, since it does not utilize the abstract expressionist techniques of dripping or throwing paint onto canvas. Solo exhibitions of Shen Wei's movement paintings took place in 2005 and 2007. Re-discovering the East through personal travel (2005–2009) Between 2005 and 2009 Shen Wei embarked on a personal journey, spending time in China (2004), Cambodia, (2005), Tibet (2005, 2006), and on China's Silk Road (2007). In 2007, he returned to Beijing in order to help direct and choreograph the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremonies. In the midst of this period of travel, Shen Wei produced Second Visit of the Empress, a hybrid creation that overtly fuses traditional Chinese Opera and Theater with western modern dance. This large-scale production, which is a reinvention of a traditional Chinese opera narrative, consists of four Chinese Opera Singers, sixteen Chinese Musician and fourteen American contemporary dancers. The opera melds polarities, placing narrative and abstractive, traditional and contemporary, as well as Eastern and Western expressions within a single performance space. Re-Triptych is a meditation of Shen Wei's travels in three parts. Re-I is inspired by spirituality in Tibet; Re-II is inspired by the history of Angkor Wat in Cambodia; and Re-III explores the imagery of the Silk Road and the mutual influencing of different cultures. The three works are based on cultural investigations—discovering different kinds of human lifestyles and social interactions. The piece integrates original movement with recordings of traditional folk music, multimedia imagery, and installation. Re-Triptych took over three years to complete (2006–2009). Shen Wei is the director and choreographer of the opening segment "Scroll" at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Ceremony, which references his 2004 work "Connect Transfer". He was also a lead creative consultant for the planning of the Opening Ceremony. Multimedia, site-specific, installation performances (2010–2012) Shen Wei's more recent works