TAO Dance Theatre's “The World of Movements” Exhibition Opens at Beijing 798, Inviting You to Co-create an Artistic Experience
 

Spontaneous interactions on pure white flooring dissolve the boundaries between art and daily life

 

On November 7, 2025, the new exhibition "The World of Movements—When Body Language Comes Alive" by TAO Dance Theatre 2 officially opened at the Art Factory in Beijing's 798 Art District. As one of TAO Dance Theatre's most vibrant original works, "The World of Movements" is an invitation extended to everyone, awaiting each audience member's personal engagement and co-creation.

 

A Homecoming Journey of the Body

Beijing is a city that carries the history of TAO Dance Theatre. Founded in 2008 by Tao Ye, Duan Ni, and Wang Hao, the company's unwavering dedication has shaped it into what it is today—a professional, full-time modern dance company recognized internationally for its perfectionism and avant-garde approach. Yet behind the accolades, the artists continually reflect on how to bridge the gap between independent art and public perception.

 

In 2024, TAO Dance Theatre 2 was established in Beijing with the mission of "Dancing for You, Dancing for Ourselves." That September, the company’s inaugural work, "The World of Movements" , debuted at the BY ART MATTERS (Tianmuli Museum) in Hangzhou. It later traveled to the Museum of Art Pudong in Shanghai and 2025 Move to Move International Dance Festival in Aranya. Compared to its stops in other cities, the arrival of "The World of Movements" in Beijing feels like a homecoming—a retracing of a life journey. From professionalism to popular engagement, from the stage to everyday life, this creative energy, born from a persistent exploration of bodily movement, has gone through seasons of growth and finally returned in this late autumn to the very soil that has nurtured the dance company for 17 years.

 

Connecting with More People

The most distinctive feature of "The World of Movements" is its dissolution of the boundary between art and daily life. Upon entering the 1,000-square-meter exhibition space, visitors are greeted by a pure white area floored with professional dance mats. Furniture from ziinlife sofas, chairs, tables, and beds—along with greenery from FLORAL ESSAY—are scattered throughout, collectively lending warmth to the space. Guided by facilitators, visitors are free to sit, lie down, relax, or engage in spontaneous physical interactions. Every visitor is not merely "observing" but is "present." The line between facilitator and audience subtly blurs with each interaction. The facilitators, acting as warm mediators, along with soft lighting, vibrant colors, and imaginative music, create a "space for relaxation"—inviting visitors to open up and reconnect with the echoes of their bodies, much like the ease and comfort of lounging on a sofa at home during childhood.

 

At the heart of the exhibition is a return to the body as the most fundamental medium of art. The unique live quality of this exhibition transforms Movement World into a "flowing feast." It is not a finished work but an open framework, its content continuously shaped and written by the ever-flowing stream of visitors. This "always-in-progress" nature has attracted media professionals, art practitioners, and long-time supporters of TAO Dance Theatre, as well as many others eager to explore their bodies and passionate about life. The six hours of uninterrupted dynamic activity, with bustling crowds coming and going, naturally transform the art space into a vibrant "urban living room," fostering endless emotional connections among people.

 

"The World of Movements" at Beijing 798

On Beijing’s art map, 798 stands out as the most prominent landmark. It welcomes audiences from around the globe while continually nurturing the local art ecosystem. Staging"The World of Movements" here is both a journey back to the body itself and a dialogue between art and daily life.

 

The Art Factory, which hosts this exhibition, retains its unique Bauhaus-style industrial architecture. Sunlight streams through the dust-covered glass dome, bearing silent and constant witness to the accumulation of countless historical moments. It is within this evolving space that TAO Dance Theatre 2, through a threefold dialogue of body, space, and memory, and resonating with imagery, installations, and sound, has created an enclave where art integrates into life—a place filled with warmth and imagination.

 

Upon entering the exhibition hall, the first impression is one of "emptiness"—an emptiness brimming with possibility. Everyday furniture is scattered about, while facilitators move or remain still, weaving through the crowd. Along the walls, visitors will find not only video documentation of TAO Dance Theatre 2  but also photographic and video works by the company's visual director, independent artist Fan Xi. For this exhibition, she chose paper-cutting, a traditional Chinese art form, not merely as symbolic representation but as a methodology to explore "memory and reconstruction," infusing the space with inspiration drawn from urban culture and contemporary lifestyles.

 

"The World of Movements—When Body Language Comes Alive" possesses a strong sense of locality, with creations and expressions closely tied to daily life, allowing unique qualities rooted in the local cultural context to emerge wherever it is staged. Each time the exhibition travels to a new city, it attracts new local facilitators. All 20 facilitators for this iteration are from Beijing—they study, work, and live in this city. The urban imprints they carry within their bodies and the physical stories they share with visitors allow the work to truly take root here. When they create within the space, they present not only artistic concepts but also emotional slices of the city itself. In this realm of possibility, people of different ages, professions, and backgrounds connect and listen to one another through the body—the most authentic language—inspiring limitless possibilities for every "present" individual.

 

The exhibition "The World of Movements—When Body Language Comes Alive" will be on display at Beijing 798 until December 7. We sincerely invite you to step into "The World of Movements" during this fluid period, to participate directly and collectively write this unfinished "physical letter." Through interaction and co-creation, experience the warmth of art connecting with life and preserve a shared bodily memory that belongs to us all.

 

Exhibition Information：

"The World of Movements—When Body Language Comes Alive"

Curators: Fan Xi, Tang Lili, Wang Hao

Artists: Tao Ye, Duan Ni, Fan Xi

Duration: November 8 – December 7, 2025(Closed on Mondays, Open 14:00–20:00) 

Exhibition Extended for Seven Days Notice

December 13-14 (Saturday and Sunday)
December 20-21 (Saturday and Sunday)
December 27-28 (Saturday and Sunday)
December 31 (Wednesday, New Year's Eve)

14:00-20:00

Venue: Art Factory, 798 Art District(No. 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing)