2 quiet, effective Shen Wei premieres

Music and math are closely related. Shen Wei adds dance to that equation in

Map

, which had its Philadelphia premiere Friday night at the Kimmel Center.

Shen Wei (who always uses both names) dissects the complicated counts in Steve Reich's

The Desert Music

and translates it onto the human body. He uses simple rotations of the hip, bouncing movements that shift the weight from side to side, and send energy visibly throughout the dancers' bodies.

Each new movement is brought on by the action of a soloist and then a reaction by a group. An especially effective segment has a small group of dancers repeating a series of slow movements, while the rest of the group, one by one, performs backward rolls and sliding lunges in a continuous circle across the stage - like an assembly line feeding a machine.

He also explores different planes. Instead of always being vertical, the dancers often perform the movement lying on the floor, slithering fluidly through the same "steps" they might be doing standing.

The backdrop looks, in places, like complicated mathematical problems worked out in several colors of chalk on a blackboard. In other spots, it resembles football strategies plotted by a coach. In a post-performance discussion, Shen Wei said these were his notes for

Map

, which he choreographed in 2005.

Map

is a quiet piece, but one of the more thought-provoking dances I've seen in a long time.

"Re - (Part 1)," the first of a planned three-part dance, is equally gentle but even more mesmerizing. It is based on Shen Wei's visits to Tibet and is set to a series of Tibetan chants.

Much of the movement is borrowed from yoga and tai chi, as well as the small but quick steps one might see from Chinese women with bound feet.

The piece begins with a large mandala of blue-and-white confetti on the stage. Through the piece, the four dancers break it up - shuffling backward through it, rolling on the ground and swirling up mini-snowstorms.

A feeling of Tibet infuses the piece, from the meditative poses to the paper "snow" on the high peaks created by Jennifer Tipton's lighting. The movements are meant to conserve energy, since oxygen is at a premium in the high altitude of the Himalayan region.

"Re - (Part 1)" is a subtly beautiful piece of art. But like yoga, it left me feeling cleansed and energized.