Danced Creation: Asia's Mythical Past and Living Present encompasses the theme of dance both historically and culturally in a geographically vast space. Combining traditional themes with the present, it goes on to show the influence of a variety of Asian dance phenomena on Europe. Beginning with India, its emphasis progresses to the development of dance in the Southeast Asian and East Asian contexts. In mythology, dance determines the cycle of creation and destruction, in the religious context dance may be an offering, an expression of praise for the gods or a request of humans for fertility, harmony and protection against evil. In this way, dance is a medium for communication with the three levels of the world. A further aspect in both traditional and modern performance art is its transcending of gender roles. The contributions of the contemporary choreographers present extracts from their life work. Accompanying and illustrating these is a selection of historical objects from the collections of Weltmuseum Wien, the Musée des arts asiatiques Guimet Paris, as well as personal objects of the choreographers.