China’s ‘Goddess of Dance’ weaves rhythm, drama and theatre into spellbinding art
- Once a top ballerina, Yang Liping returned to her Yunnan roots to modernise folk dance
- Her choreographic works are performed internationally, with the latest ‘Under Siege’ set for Macao performance
Dance has been a constant in Yang Liping’s life. The art form influenced almost every aspect of her life growing up near Dali, a centre for Bai culture in mainland China’s Yunnan province. The renowned Chinese dancer and choreographer says dance is ritual for the Bai minority.
“During weddings and funerals, after harvests and childbirth, people would celebrate or mourn through dancing and singing,” she says. “Dancing gave us spiritual sustenance.”
Traditional dance became the 60-year-old’s preferred form of expression as she continued developing her own style. In 1971, she became a member of the Xishuangbanna Prefecture Song and Dance Troupe, where she quickly rose to the role of lead ballerina.
While performing with the troupe she grew accustomed to other styles of traditional dance. “Yunnan has over 20 ethnic groups,” Yang says. “I learned from all of them, from their people, their cultural experiences, the nature surrounding them. I studied a lot.”
By her early 20s, she had moved to Beijing and was performing with the Central Nationalities Song and Dance Ensemble, a group representing the cultures of dozens of the mainland’s recognised ethnic groups. She found the training too restrictive and quit to rediscover ethnic folk culture, the very thing that had brought her to the art in the first place.