Yang Liping dance troupe water moon teacher "Dai" to express what

For young people who have just joined the profession after graduating from professional dance colleges and universities, Yang Liping gave her own advice: firstly, you should recognize yourself and have both passion, wisdom and awareness; secondly, you should love dance, don't treat it as a job, and even less as a tool for survival or fame and fortune; lastly, don't dance blindly and vigorously, "you have to have emotional and spiritual to be emotionally and spiritually attached, to translate the understanding of life and living into body language expression."

In an interview with Southern People Weekly's special issue on "New Youth in the Wind", the top dancer, who has been practicing for 50 years, shared his artistic philosophy and expressed his expectations for young people.

Wen/ Ke Yuyuan

Editor / Yang Jingru

"Five picks and the text, the name is the phoenix king, the first text is said to be moral, the wing text is said to be righteousness, the back text is said to be polite, the honoring text is said to be benevolence, the belly text is said to be faith. Is the bird also, diet natural, since the song and dance, see the world peace." According to the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" records, the phoenix has colorful feathers, its head, wings, back, chest, abdomen pattern corresponds to the words "virtue" "righteousness" "ritual" "benevolence" and "faith". And the phoenix can sing and dance at ease.

We have never seen a phoenix full of magical colors. However, in Eastern mythology, the peacock was born of the phoenix's sense of harmony. People also projected their imagination of the phoenix onto the peacock, giving it auspicious and elegant symbols.

On the stage, the peacock plays in the water, combs its hair, spreads its wings and opens its screen, as if it has fallen into the mortal world. "The peacock dances and all eyes are attracted to it. In the melody and dance, the dancer and the peacock, life and nature, God and the spirit, fused with each other - this is the well-known dancer Yang Liping choreographed and directed the "Spirit of the Sparrow" to the viewer to bring the stunning and shock.

This classic Dai dance, created in the 1980s, is Yang Liping's work of fame, but also the starting point of her legendary experience of the phoenix nirvana - at that time, thousands of Chinese people through the TV screen, remembering the rising star in the history of the art of dance, and witnessed her with graceful style, step by step, from the border town of Yunnan to the world. The Chinese people remembered this rising star in the history of dance art through the TV screen and witnessed her step by step from the border town of Yunnan to the world stage with graceful style.

"It's like a fish out of water"

In 1976, 18-year-old Yang Liping met 20-year-old Gao Chengming at a dance performance in Yunnan Province. When they first met, Gao told her in the corridor about the British actress Vivien Leigh, who had starred in "Gone with the Wind," "Broken Blue Bridge," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and other masterpieces, and who had won two Oscars as a goddess.

Gao Chengming meaningfully urged Yang Liping to find a way to go to a wider space. At the time, Yang was playing the "Peacock Princess" in the Dai epic dance drama "Zhaoshutun and Munnona," and her talent and beauty were famous in Yunnan, but that was it. She needed a bigger stage.

Later, Gao became a famous choreographer in China and a close friend of Yang Liping.

Dressed in plain black with a big braid, Yang's outfit is very recognizable. This uniqueness seems to be inherent. Growing up in the countryside fields, Yang Liping likes to observe how water flows, how clouds flutter, how butterflies break their cocoons, how ants line up, how dragonflies dot the water, how caterpillars twist their waists ...... She has a unique experience of nature and life, and conveys this feeling through dance.

In everything, she seeks traces of dance. The one that touched her most was the peacock. She once saw large groups of male peacocks gathering by lotus ponds and under linden trees: when they slowly spread their tails, and a little bit of light radiated from their tails, Yang witnessed a dazzling beauty.

▲Publicity photo of the dance drama "Peacock"

The peacock is the mother of all Yang Liping's creations, and her young peacock dance is becoming more and more colorful. Four years after her chance encounter with Gao Chengming, Yang received an olive branch from a higher place - being transferred to Beijing by the Central Minority Song and Dance Troupe.

At that time, the troupe was keen to train ballet with high intensity and routine. This made Yang Liping feel uncomfortable, and she often waited until the evening when everyone had dispersed, and then ran to the practice room to train in her own way. It was this experience of mental refinement and all-night training that led to her self-choreographed solo dance "The Spirit of the Bird".

In 1986, "The Spirit of the Sparrow" won the first prize for performance and choreography at the National Dance Competition, and was presented on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala two years later. Yang Liping became a household name as the "Peacock Princess". "Whenever I walk to the side curtain, I feel like I'm standing on the edge of a ridge, and when the music plays and I leap onto the stage, it's like a fish getting water." Yang said she enjoys the pleasure of going on stage every time, and whenever she takes a curtain call and hears the audience applauding, she feels like "the sound of water crashing through, it's so beautiful."

From solo dance to group dance

Yang Liping did not stick to her own ways after she became famous, but continued to try to change the form of dance. She has participated in the choreography of "Reflections of Yunnan", "The Sound of Yunnan", "Ambush on Ten Sides", "The Rite of Spring" and other large-scale song and dance works, from solo to group dance, so that more young dancers feel the joy of the "sound of flowing water".

Since 2000, Yang Liping has been going into many ethnic minority villages in Yunnan, selecting authentic young villagers to form the Yunnan Reflections Song and Dance Troupe. Yang Liping hopes to show the world the Oriental aesthetics, wisdom and philosophy. According to incomplete statistics, "Reflections of Yunnan" has toured more than 7,000 shows at home and abroad.

The troupe was disbanded by the epidemic. In her autobiography of 50 years in the arts, Yang Liping wept several times talking about it. Young artist Li Yugang, who has known her for many years, tweeted, "For the first time, I saw the strong she shed tears, there is helplessness and reluctance, but I firmly believe that regardless of whether there is no stage, she has been a symbol of purity and extremity, her spirit and soul can dance forever!"

▲"Reflections of Yunnan" photo

For Yang Liping, there can be no stage, but not no dance. In her eyes, dance is a form of life. She called herself a "spectator of life" and loved to observe and transform her observations into dance. As a dancer, she is always humble, "The whole world and the universe is made of dust, the sea is made of water, we are all drops of water in the sea, we are very small."

Resisting with the spirit of a tiger

Every year, Yang Liping makes dance plans for herself.

During the Spring Festival in 2021, Yang created the Chinese zodiac video dance "Spring Ox Figure". This year, she also launched the Chinese zodiac series of dance art movie "Tiger Tsunami Figure". In an exclusive interview with Southern People Weekly, Yang Liping said, "The image of tigers in Tiger Whistling Figure is very rich, there are handsome tigers, idol tigers, rock tigers, mother tigers, baby tigers, etc.; the story line is also very diverse, there are friendship lines, love lines, etc.; the dramaturgy is also very strong, and tigers are dancing with friends, there are motorcycles to come, and there are skateboards to step on, which is very hilarious. "

In Yang Liping's opinion, the video work is more accessible than the dance drama. If viewers look closely enough, it's not hard to spot the traditional cultural symbols embedded in it, such as proverbs and nursery rhymes. For her, this is an alternative art form. She wants to find a possibility without a stage: "With the help of high-tech network means to disseminate, I think this is a 'new species', and I hope, it can bring new experience and new thinking to everyone." She said sincerely.

▲The promotional poster of "Tiger's Tale"

The film incorporates elements of martial arts, folk music, skiing, parkour, fashionable clothing and special effects make-up, carrying a strong national trend and presenting a strong sense of beauty and vitality. According to Yang Liping, she is currently preparing a dance art movie on the theme of "Rabbit" zodiac. In her vision, the zodiac series of dance in addition to the twelve signs of the zodiac in turn, there will be her previous dance works in the peacock, moonlight, the unicorn and other classic imagery, they will get a new interpretation.

Let the spirit of dance continue

Over the years, in addition to her commitment to the promotion of national culture, Yang Liping has spared no effort in the training of young dancers. In this regard, she explained: "Different works need to be matched with different types of dancers. The birth of a new work is also a process of discussing and creating with young dancers *** together."

In Yang Liping's opinion, it is a good choice to tap up-and-coming talents through the Internet platform, "They often just lack a stage to show their talents." She keeps abreast of the times by casting people online to stock up the successor force for China's dance career. The actor "Xiao Niu" in "Spring Cow Figure" was found on a short video platform, and some of the young actors in "Tiger's Whistle Figure" were also discovered through short videos. She had asked a female college student dancer by her real name in the message area of the short video platform for basic information; and appealed to the general public, "Welcome to be able to @ me in the comment area when you send dance videos."

▲"Spring Cow Figure" pic

For the young people who have just joined the profession after graduating from professional dance colleges and universities, the top dancer gave his own advice: first, to recognize themselves, both passionate, but also wisdom and awareness; second, to love dance, do not treat it as a job, and even more so as a tool for survival or fame; and, finally, not to blindly to dance, to dance hard, "to have emotional and spiritual attachment, to translate the understanding of life, of life into body language expression."

In the past few years, affected by repeated epidemics, much dance learning has shifted to online forms. Based on this, Yang believes that online is more of a test of a dancer's ability to learn and absorb, and is far less direct than offline. "Dancers' tolerance is still very strong. Even if there is no performance, don't be gray inside." Yang added after a pause, "The whole world faces this problem."

Fifty years into her career, Yang Liping has often been surrounded by flowers and experienced thorns and bumps, but she has always maintained the optimism she had when she was 18 years old -- "What's so hard about life? Take the difficult as a kind of exercise, if you encounter a new difficult, continue to break through, keep moving forward." Perhaps it is this always positive mindset that puts her in a state where she is not prone to anxiety. Looking around at her friends, Yang Liping also feels that they are not anxious.

"It's people without wisdom who are anxious." She said bluntly. But when asked how one can acquire wisdom, Yang Liping said, "It's hard to teach." To some young people who are prone to anxiety, especially those who have just entered college and are slightly confused, Yang Liping gave a short but reasonable answer, "Study hard."

(Reference: "The Journey of Beauty - Yang Liping's 50 Years of Art in Her Own Words", "Yang Liping: The Peacock Descends", "Yang Liping: Dancing is not "Ready - Start! )

From her experience on the stage to her attitude in the face of good and bad times, Yang Liping has told young people about her insights as a "person who has been there". All of the above content is from the e-zine "New Youth in the Wind" launched by Southern People Weekly and Southern Weekend for the school season.

There are more quality contents worth the attention of new students in this must-read guide for university admission: from the sharing of big names to the voices of peers, from hardcore dry goods to warm hearted blessings, and from "reading thousands of books" to "traveling thousands of miles". ...... brings you a glimpse of college life in advance, and a glimpse of your future college style.