If we understand the movement of our bodies as a deconstructed dance and the rhythm of our lives as choreography, then what becomes of the space around us? Does the enjoining of steel, concrete, and glass guide our actions, or can our bodies shape architecture?

Dance in MAP features contemporary dancer Meng-ke Wu gliding through the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) in Shanghai, which is due to open later this year. Her body measures time, space, and light by foregrounding the spatial qualities of the museum by moving through it.

Each section of this dance short is an exposition of MAP as a welcome fixture in Shanghai’s sprawling skyline. Exploring each quadrant of the building, Meng-ke Wu holds herself with grace, poise, and control against the museum’s white granite walls, which were purposefully chosen to enhance the layers of colorful activity that will take place inside.

The Museum of Art Pudong was designed by renowned French architect Jean Nouvel as a monochromatic gesture to Suprematism, an art movement characterized by basic geometric forms and a limited color palette. As we watch Meng-ke Wu move from the atrium space illuminated by jagged skylights to the two-story mirrored gallery, we finally get a glimpse of the totality of architecture and the inspiring nature of 21st-century art.