China's famous dancer Yang Liping (3rd, L) attends a publicity session for her latest dance show with the production team in north China's Tianjin municipality on October 6. [Photo/Xinhua]

The dance production "Under Siege - The Full Story of Farewell My Concubine", with Yang Liping as its chief choreographer and art director, was performed in North China's Tianjin municipality over three consecutive nights from October 5 to 7, and was warmly welcomed by audiences.

At a session organized to discuss the work, Yang, a famed Chinese dancer, noted that this work has a strong experimental feel and is a bold production that integrates traditional classic art into a contemporary cultural context.

"I tried to put performance art, installation art and folk music into the comprehensive artistic language of traditional drama to interpret the story of the War between Chu and Han that has been circulating for more than 2,000 years," she said.

According to Yang, there are no genuine swords and spears in the performance, but instead there are countless scissors hanging above the stage and red feathers covering the set.

 "The purpose is to project the uneasiness and fear of people throughout the ages, which is the 'under siege' of the title," she explained.

Yang became famous for the peacock dance. She is known as the "peacock princess", "dance poet" and "soul dancer", although she has never even spent a day in a dance school.

"My dancing art derives from folk lands, and is inspired by heaven and the earth. Dance is a lifestyle for Bai ethnic people. We dance at weddings and funerals and work in the fields," Yang said, adding that she learned a lot from nature, such as how peacocks walk and how the river flows.

Yang has enjoyed dance, her companion, for decades. It is not for persistence but for love. "Dancing is not my work, but a need for me to live and to communicate with the world," she noted.

In addition to being a dancer, Yang is a practical communicator, and has never stopped collecting, cataloguing, inheriting and spreading folk art. She said: "I always loved Chinese traditional culture due to its unique tastes and styles. What I am interested in is the way to demonstrate it."

In recent years, Yang has taken a back seat, leaving the stage for younger generation. "I currently prefer creating to performing. Many of my works are designed for suitable dancers. However, I also tailor works for myself. I will appear on the stage as long as there is a good one," Yang said.

Yang(C) and performers thank the audience after a dance show in north China's Tianjin municipality on October 5. [Photo/Xinhua]