When the entertainment industry talks about the word "scale", the first thing that comes to mind must be Yang Liping. The dance diva has always dared to innovate and break new ground on her artistic path, but her bold works have also repeatedly caused controversy.
Recently, Yang Liping teamed up with male dancer Zhang Hao to launch a new work "Lotus Covenant". This dance performance was originally Yang Liping's first show in the drama industry, but it once again aroused heated discussions among netizens because the dance content was too radical.
According to insiders, "The Lotus Covenant" is based on the story of a couple of men and women in love. In the climax of the performance, the heroine played by Yang Liping excitedly hugged the male dancer and directly grabbed each other's lower bodies to express her love.
The image was bold and direct, and it immediately caused an uproar at the premiere. The reporter also photographed that many audience members even got up and left the venue to show their dissatisfaction with such a "vulgar performance".
After the incident, the intense image quickly spread on the Internet. "Yang Liping was scolded on the hot search again" has become the headline topic of major social platforms, and many netizens have expressed their opinions.
Some industry insiders said that Yang Liping misunderstood dance innovation as stage nudity and an insult to art.
In response to criticism from the outside world, Yang Liping responded that dance needs to break through and innovate, and bold scale is her consistent style. She said that "The Covenant of the Lotus" is about pure and honest love, even if the means are radical, it is also to express the true nature of human nature.
"I don't change my style because of other people's misunderstandings, and dance needs to be innovative. Yang Liping wrote on social media.
It seems that this has become an intractable dilemma between Yang Liping and the public. We might as well review and analyze the reasons for the frequent appearance of Yang Liping's bold works. In fact, as early as the beginning of Yang Liping's debut, her works were known for their large scale.
She advocates that "dance also needs to be liberated", and constantly explores the limits of the human body. However, unlike the Western dance concept that "nudity is also an art", Yang Liping's works are more out of rebellion and breakthrough with traditional Eastern culture.
Taking her early masterpiece "Chain Mail" as an example, Yang Liping compares the psychology of oriental women trapped in love to chain mail, and expresses the liberation of breaking free from this shackle through dance.
To depict this theme, she makes extensive use of movements similar to getting rid of clothes in her dances. This was unprecedented at the time, and it also set up a bold and innovative personal mark for Yang Liping. "Lotus Covenant" can be seen as a continuation and upgrade of her style.
Secondly, Yang Liping has always advocated that dance should return to instinct and tap the most primitive desires in human nature. She believes that people's hearts are full of contradictions and conflicts, and it is difficult to present the integrity of human nature just on the good side.
As a result, "shame" and "taboo" can be seen in many of her works. This has also become a major point of controversy in her work.
Finally, the new field of drama also has a strong stimulating effect on Yang Liping. She has always wanted to realize cross-border innovation from dance to drama, and innovate the theater stage. "The Lotus Covenant" is her attempt to merge two art forms.
In order to highlight the impact of the drama, she did not hesitate to use advanced performance techniques. But this is also destined to cause controversy, and even be considered hype by some viewers.
Whatever Yang Liping's intentions, there has always been a gap between bold artistic exploration and public acceptance. We should not deny the artist's innovative spirit because of our own aesthetic limitations.
At the same time, artists also need to pay attention to ways and means to avoid misleading. It is hoped that Yang Liping can achieve the integration of innovation and popular aesthetics in her future works. Let's look forward to more surprises from this dance master.