What does the soul of a poet who lived nearly a thousand years ago look like in motion? This December, the Esplanade Theatre will offer an answer with Dongpo: Life in Poems, an operatic contemporary dance drama that brings the world of Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo vividly into the present.
Directed and choreographed by internationally acclaimed artist Shen Wei, the production is less a conventional retelling of a historical life than a meditation on what it means to be human. Thirteen of Su Dongpo’s poems form the emotional backbone of the work, tracing states of contemplation, melancholy, resilience and unrestrained joy rather than following a linear biography.
The result is a meeting of ancient Chinese aesthetics and contemporary performance. Shen Wei, known for his distinctive “human ink-wash painting” style, combines fluid, athletic choreography with Chinese opera, Tai Chi and visual motifs drawn from calligraphy, painting and seal engraving. On stage, dancers become moving brushstrokes, creating what feels like a living scroll against a landscape of contemporary visual installations.
The production also brings together two major artistic figures. Shen Wei, whose work has been seen on some of the world’s leading stages and who contributed to the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, oversees the choreography, stage visuals and costume design. The score is composed by Chen Qigang, another key creative force behind the Olympics ceremony, who brings together the sounds of the guqin and Chinese opera with contemporary orchestral textures.
Yet Dongpo: Life in Poems is not designed only for audiences familiar with Chinese history or literature. Its creators instead approach Su Dongpo through the emotions embedded in his poetry—the feeling of solitude, the ability to find joy amid adversity, and the search for beauty and meaning in everyday life.
That universality may be part of the production’s appeal. The work has already drawn audiences overseas, with performances at New York’s Lincoln Center and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center selling out. Its Singapore debut offers local audiences the chance to encounter a work that sits somewhere between dance, theatre, opera and visual art.
For Shen Wei, the stage becomes a space where centuries collapse into a single breath: ancient poetry translated into movement, ink-wash aesthetics into bodies, and the inner world of a poet into something that can be felt without understanding every word.
Whether you arrive for the contemporary choreography, the music, the visual spectacle or simply the chance to encounter one of China’s most enduring literary figures from a new perspective, Dongpo: Life in Poems promises a theatrical journey across time, one in which a poet from the Song Dynasty may feel surprisingly close to home.
Dongpo: Life in Poems 现代舞诗剧《诗忆东坡》 runs from 4th to 5th December 2026 at the Esplanade Theatre. Tickets available from SISTIC
