Yang Liping
is from the Bai ethnic group in Dali, Yunnan.
Having loved dancing since she was a child, she never attended any dance school. In 1971, she entered the Xishuangbanna Prefecture Song and Dance Troupe from a village. In 1986, she composed and performed the solo dance "The Spirit of the Bird" and became famous in one fell swoop. She is regarded as a "witch" and a "god of dance". The multi-talented actress also wrote, directed and starred in the film "Sunbird" in 1998, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Montreal International Film Festival. Recently, she starred as "Mei Chaofeng" in the mainland version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and became the biggest selling point of the show.
Only she can express the sounds of nature and humanity with her breathtakingly beautiful body language, thus inspiring our understanding and tolerance of the infinite possibilities of art. Her dance is timeless because of its purity, precious because of its originality, and it is high-quality because of its television broadcast. Her courage to defy artistic dogma and established rules is related to her talent, but her subversive and original spirit in art has made her a spiritual ally and artistic benchmark for her successors.
Award-winning
In 1979, the large-scale national dance drama "Peacock Princess" she starred in won the first prize of Yunnan Province
1979 Performance Award.
In 1986, her famous solo dance "Sparrow Spirit", which she created and performed, won the first prize in creation and first place in performance in the Second National Dance Competition.
In 1990, she performed the solo dance "The Spirit of the Bird" at the closing ceremony of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing.
In 1992, she became the first dancer from mainland China to perform in Taiwan.
In 1993, she created and performed the pas de deux "Two Trees" at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, which won first place in the audience vote.
In 1994, the State Council of the People's Republic of China awarded her the title of National Model of National Unity and Progress. The solo dance "Spirit of the Bird" won the Gold Medal for Chinese National Dance Classics of the 20th Century.
In 1997, she participated in a performance at the Osaka International Arts Festival in Japan, and was awarded the highest art award by the Osaka International Exchange Center. The National Folk Dance Association of the Philippines awarded her a lifetime membership.
In 1998, the film "Island of the Sun", which she wrote, directed and starred in, won the Jury Prize at the Trier International Film Festival.