By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
TIMES SQUARE — Midtown office workers, students and tourists got a surprise Thursday afternoon when a modern dance company put on a nine-person outdoor performance on the northern edge of Times Square.
To celebrate the Shen Wei Dance Arts company's 10-year anniversary, Beijing Olympics ceremony choreographer Shen Wei launched a two-day series of site-specific shows, which incorporate unsuspecting pedestrians, and the red stairs and Father Francis D. Duffy statue of Duffy Square.
"It was cool," said Harlem resident Quyane Santano, 20, who happened to be in Times Square during a break from school. "I was looking at them with my mouth open because it was just so 'wow.'"
The dancers, dressed in street clothes so they could blend in with the audience, began by walking down the stairs without music. Suddenly, they broke out into synchronized runs before splitting off as soloists and then converging on the stairs in acrobatic groupings of three.
"It really was artistic," said Harlem resident Kashif Poinsett, 22, who mentioned his favorite part was the partnering at the end. "I know I wouldn't be able to do that! It's really something you don't see every day."
Company member and artistic associate Sara Procopio said the performance is about "bringing art into the public, inviting people to take a moment to watch, observe, interact."
If the dancers are successful, their performances will have a lasting effect on their unsuspecting audience, she added.
"It can inspire people to take a moment to contemplate something other than the routine things going on in their head," Procopio said. "To have a human interaction of some kind. Especially in a place like Times Square."
