Students Showcase Arts Achievements in Fall Shows

As the fall semester draws to a close, NYU Shanghai’s classrooms, hallways, and performance spaces are filled with students showcasing their hard work in courses and extracurricular groups ranging from dance to music to studio art. Here, students perform excerpt of 'Revelations' originally choreographed by Alvin Ailey and reconstructed by Assistant Arts Professor of Dance Zhao Yuting.

“Line and Spirals,” choreographed and performed by Liang Xiao ’22, Wang Yinqi ’22 (not pictured), and Xie Jiangxuan ’22

Students in Associate Arts Professor of Dance Aly Rose’s Choreography and Performance course perform their original composition “The Cliff.”

Students Liang Xiao ’22, Wang Yinqi ’22, and Xie Jiangxuan ’22 explore the limits of matter and space in “Quantum.” “I think dance explores a modality of spontaneous expression escaped from the canonical truth,” said Wang. “It aims to a direct manifestation of life itself, something destined to be particular and ephemeral."

Students in Assistant Arts Professor of Dance Tao Siye’s Dances of Northern China course perform “Harvest in the Fall,” a dance in the Korean Sogochum (small drum dance) style. Originally derived from communal rites and rustic entertainment forms in Korean Nongak (farmers’ music) culture, the Sogochum style has evolved into a form of artistic expression on the stage.

Ballet students defy gravity in their performance of “Dance of the Hours” as choreographed by by Marius Petipa from Coppélia by Leo Delibes.

NYU Shanghai’s music program held its traditional end-of-semester semester concert on December 6, with performances from the Chamber Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Chamber Singers, Chorale, and A Cappella group.

“The highlight of the concert for me was conducting Zequinha Abreu’s Tico Tico no Fuba, an extremely hard piece,” said orchestra conductor Cheng Yue. “Our students have been working very hard for months. Our percussion section even invited outside guests from the Jazz Ensemble to join in and also invited the Principal Percussionist from the Shanghai Philharmonic orchestra to coach and offer new ideas. During the concert, the piece had the crowd cheering, and it was really successful and fun!”

Under the guidance of Clinical Assistant Professor of the Arts Katherine Girvin, the Chorale presented a range of crowd pleasers, including songs from the Broadway shows Dear Evan Hansen and Moulin Rouge! and Jin Chengzhi’s “I Like (我喜欢).” Some singers also accompanied the Jazz Band’s last piece of the concert, “Witness,” which was composed by Jazz Band Director Murray James Morrison.

“My favorite part of the orchestra is the people, because they are all very dedicated to music playing, even though none of us are music majors or minors,” said Senior Principal Violist Sarah Armstrong ‘22, who has been a member of the orchestra since her first year at NYU Shanghai. “My favorite piece to play at this semester's concert was the Selections from the Phantom of the Opera as it really allowed every section to have exciting parts.

Intermediate erhu students (from left to right) Liu Zihan ’24, Cyrus Guo ’22, and Chelsea Mclean ’22 perform the Inner Mongolian folk song “Senjidema” at “Salon Chinois,” a showcase of traditional Chinese music and traditional Chinese instrument performances, on December 8.

Students in the Beginning Bamboo Flute class performed a series of three songs that included both Chinese and American folk tunes.

Assistant Professor of Computer Science Gus Xia, who is also a professional Chinese flute player and former assistant conductor at the Chinese Music Institute of Peking University, conducts the NYU Shanghai Chinese Music Ensemble in a rendition of “Jiuge,” or “Toasting Song.”

Works in mediums ranging from lip gloss to watercolor, prescription pills to pencil filled the gallery space and hallways on the 12th floor of the Academic Building from December 3 to December 10. The show featured works by students in studio art classes led by faculty members Barbara Edelstein-Zhang, Jian-Jun Zhang, and Maya Kramer.