Yang Liping, born in 1958 in Yunnan from the Bai ethnic group, is one of the most renowned dancers in China. She has won a reputation for being the Spirit of Dance due to her charming performances, such as The Soul of the Peacock, Two Trees, and Moonlight. Because of her extraordinary gift, she was chosen to join the Xishuangbanna Song and Dance Troupe when she was 13 years old. She became famous overnight for her performance in the Dai dance drama, The Peacock Princess. In 1988, she entered the China Central Song and Dance Ensemble of Nationalities. At the Second National Dance Contest, her dance The Soul of the Peacock, that she choreographed and performed herself, outshone all the other dances and reaped two first prizes.

Yang’s dances boast a lyrical touch, which often abandon trivial realities and meretricious expressions. What’s left in her dances are various moves that form silhouettes of a tree, a fish, a bird, or a snake against the backdrop of a moon as depicted in her dance Moonlight. It is said that Yang, with her dances, invites audiences to journey to a fairyland with blooming flowers, singing birds, and running beasts. She gives life to those creatures with her emotional and expressive body language, and communicates with them. 

Contemporary dance Ambushing on All Side, a commissioned work by China Shanghai International Arts Festival and Yang Liping Arts Limited, blends contemporary dance with opera elements. Yang Liping invites the opera master Qiu Jirong, who has tried to combine opera, song and dance for many years, to join in Under Siege. Through telling a series of historical and dramatic stories, Under Siege manifests Yang Liping’s thoughts on humanity and reality. In particular, she creates a piece of pas de deux in Under Siege to show the desire’s influence on humanity—either destructing or shaping. The dance is directed by Yang Liping and starred by Qiu Jirong, Wang Taorui, Chen Xiewei, Hu shenyuan, Pan Yu and Gao chen.