In 1986, the General Administration Song and Dance Troupe screening hall, the screen a woman sitting on the ground with her arms open regular shaking, from a distance like a peacock loitering; off-stage judges and teachers were dumbfounded, goose bumps fell all over the place.
The woman in the screen is now the famous dance artist Yang Liping, which was sent to the competition video "The Spirit of the Peacock" in 1986 after a lot of hard work.
"The source is clear, the waves are broad" is Lin Gufang's comment on Yang Liping.
She grew up with a hard life and loved the lightness of nature, and a movie called "The White-haired Girl" completely inspired Yang Liping's desire for art. She entered the troupe twice, and a letter from 1972 that spoke of the discomforts and hardships of the troupe evoked her deepest memories.
Living in a warehouse far away from her hometown, she was photographed by a reporter with a "peacock and her nest," and the "peacock spirit" has since become her label.
Two love experiences were defeated in her pursuit of "awakening love;" years later, she visited her mother but almost received a slap from her mother; for the art of dance, she did not cut her nails for many years, did not eat rice, and even at one time removed two ribs just to maintain the flexibility of the body.
The experiences from her childhood, her unique artistic way of thinking and her real life experiences have created this unique dance artist.
"The Peacock and her Nest"
"The sharpness of the sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of the plum blossom comes from the bitter cold." In 1958 along with a cry, Yang Liping was born in Eryuan County, Yunnan Province. As a Bai girl, since childhood she has been accompanied by song and dance, what marriage rituals, festivals, performances, are inevitable on stage to dance a dance.
Before the age of 13, Yang Liping lived in a relatively difficult environment, since childhood is her mother relying on a meager salary to support the three sisters, Yang Liping is also subject to the limitations of the family situation, the love of dance, she has not received professional dance training, and often return home from school, chopping wood for cooking and digging wild vegetables, to help her mother to take care of their own two sisters.
But also such an environment shaped the natural art of Yang Liping. In front of Yang Liping's house is a river, which is the birthplace of the Erhai Sea, and people often go to the river to wash vegetables and clothes.
Yang Liping liked to herd cows by the river, and then she went to the water to feel the fish swimming past her feet, lying on the grass and watching the changing clouds in the sky, the beauty of nature y attracted the young Yang Liping, and it was also in the nature that Yang Liping fell in love with the praying mantis, peacock, snake and some animal movements;
One day, the village showed the movie "The White-haired Girl", which completely inspired Yang Liping's artistic perception. Yang Liping's artistic perception, from that time onwards, Yang Liping has determined her own life goal, "I am very determined that I want to dance ideal, when I understand, I decided that I must dance, must dance."
At the age of 13, Yang Liping entered the Xishuangbanna State Song and Dance Troupe, because the folk song and dance troupe advocate "practice makes perfect," so in the second day of the troupe Yang Liping began to perform on stage. Originally to be able to dance on stage is a thing to be happy, but once the "artistic life" program team found then Yang Liping wrote a letter.
The letter stated that Yang Liping did not like the way the troupe performed, and even wanted to leave the troupe at one time, because she was not suitable for the kind of performance in the troupe, which made her feel physically constrained and lost the naturalness of the performance.
After that, Yang Liping was transferred to the Central Folk Dance Troupe, where her dancing career really began.
The training in the troupe was more advanced and strict, but after training for some time she realized that she had lost her original soul and felt that her body was bound, so she proposed to her teacher that she should train on her own. Today, Yang Liping recalls that it was a very unusual practice, and her coach and teachers were very unhappy, but she insisted on training on her own in order to find her sense of origin.
Also in the Song and Dance Troupe, Yang Liping choreographed "The Spirit of the Bird". As the saying goes, "two sentences of three years to get, a chanting double tears," the creation of the "Spirit of the Sparrow" hard-won, when Yang Liping only 100 dollars a month, but the "Spirit of the Sparrow" of the production of at least 2,000 or so, Yang Liping is stubborn, she enjoys the thrill of their own productions, not to the Song and Dance Troupe to seek help for this reason, she has also sold She sold her beloved watch and borrowed some from her friends to barely finish the creation of "The Spirit of the Sparrow".
But when Yang Liping sent the videotape to the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Administration of the People's Republic of China in the pouring rain, she was notified that the competition had already passed, and she encountered a teacher on duty, who promised to help her to play it to the jury when they had time to look at it. Never thought, this video tape put, the judges and teachers were dumbfounded, we have never seen such a dance, but imitation peacock lifelike Yang Liping or lucky to the final, and then a sword to seal the throat, and took the first prize of the National Dance Competition, but also by virtue of the "Spirit of the Sparrow", Yang Liping's name is known to everyone, and became famous in one fell swoop.
Yang Liping was still living in a warehouse at the time, and Mr. Zheng Ming, a reporter from China Youth Daily, took a picture of Yang Liping practicing, titled "The Peacock and Her Nest." Since then, Yang Liping has become the "peacock elf" in people's hearts, and "peacock and her nest" has also become the label of Ms. Yang Liping's life.
Awakened Love
Yang Liping once described herself as yearning for "awakened love," which is not only limited to love, but also affection and passion for dance.
Yang Liping had two loves, the first is in the Xishuangbanna Song and Dance Troupe, the other is a dancer, but ultimately the two because of inappropriate and separated. The most poignant is the second relationship, the second is a Taiwan businessman, the two sides because of the performance and met, after four years of love, the two held a wedding in Las Vegas in 1995, and then returned to Taiwan to make up a very large wedding banquet.
In 2002, the two returned to Taiwan for the Spring Festival, the man's family urged to hurry to give birth to a child, but at that time, Yang Liping in order to dance not to eat rice, after checking the body fat is too low, it is difficult to conceive; so in the fattening to have a child and dance, Yang Liping chose to dance, and the two also ended the relationship. Afterwards, Yang Liping said in an interview, "It's just that the object of hope is different, the object of my hope is dance, so it's also quite good."
Not only in love, affection Yang Liping also aspires to "awakening love." Once Yang Liping to participate in the "Lu Yu have an appointment", years not seen her mother to see Yang Liping is also left in tears, but did not expect Yang Liping has not opened his mouth to speak, the mother slapped over, next to the Lu Yu to see the situation thought her mother angry, just want to go up to pull, but Yang Liping seems to be very accustomed to the body naturally backward to avoid the slap.
After that, Yang Liping also faced the camera and explained that this is a mode of getting along with the family.
"There is no such thing as a high or low ambition, but a man's ambition is to be free." Although Yang Liping is not a male body, but she for the cause can really put all the effort.
In order to better play the animal's body, she often drank soybean milk and Pu'er tea. If there is no performance, she will reduce her eating, and in order to keep her figure she never eat rice, as always, all year round. In order to perform more vividly, she does not cut her nails all year round, so much so that by now they are as long as 5 centimeters.
Playing animals is the most important thing is the animal's unique softness, young time is fine, can be solved by keeping fit and practicing kung fu, but with age, the body softness declined, and she did not hesitate to remove a few of her own ribs, as a way to show a better visual effect.
"The snow presses down on the green pine, but the pine is straight and upright." Everything Yang Liping does is for her own pursuit of the art of dance, she misses the flavor of nature in her childhood, and nature and the people have always been the source of Ms. Yang Liping's creativity.
The mysterious dancer from the mountains has long been known as the "Witch", a person who is good at talking with her body.
To date, she has no children, and her dance is the most innocent dance, the most special artistic image, and the most unique existence in the world.
In people's hearts, she is a true artist, creator, practitioner, and a true dancer of the heart.