Yang Liping (Choreography)
Yang Liping (born November 10, 1958) is a famous dancer and choreographer who is known across China for her creativity and her performance of the Dai peacock dance.
Of Bai ethnicity, she grew up in a village outside of Dali in China's Yunnan province. The eldest of four children, her parents and grandparents were farmers. She began her formal dance training at the late age of 11, at a dance troupe in the Xishuangbanna area of Yunnan, after her family moved to the area. In the Southern flatlands of Yunnan, Xishuangbanna borders the country of Burma and is dominated by the Dai ethnic group, whose Peacock dance she would become synonymous with. She rose to national level fame in 1986 when she won first prize in a national dance competition for her original solo"Spirt of the Peacock"
She is the director, choreographer and star of a performance art show called "Dynamic Yunnan" that has drawn sellout crowds all over China. She toured Europe and the United States in 2005. Between 2004 and 2008, Yang Liping directed and choreographed a trilogy: "Dynamic Yunnan", "Echoes of Shangri-la" and "Tibetan Myth". In 2004, "Dynamic Yunnan" won five major awards at the National Lotus Awards, including Gold Award for Dance Spectacular, Best Choreography and Best Female Performer. To create the exotic song and dance spectacular "Dynamic Yunnan", Yang spent years traveling to remote villages of the 26 ethnic minority tribes in Yunnan and selected over 60 peasants who had the natural gift of song and dance, from whom she built an archive re-creating this rich feast of sight and sound.
In May 2009, she revealed a dance and music production 'Yunnan Sound', at the Yunnan Art Institute's Experimental Theater.
She is currently a judge on So You Think You Can Dance China.
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