Yang Liping, Rite of Spring, Sadler's Wells Preview

The choreographer and dancer Yang Liping is renowned for creating unique and beautiful pieces of dance theatre and is a household name in her native China.

Yang Liping, who belongs to the Bai ethnic group and grew up in the mountains in Yunnan Province, visited Sadler’s Wells in 2016 with the contemporary dance offering Under Siege. Well-received by audiences and critics alike, it marked her arrival on the international contemporary dance stage.

This year’s return to the North London dance venue sees Yang Liping reunited with the Oscar-winning designer Tim Yip to present the UK premiere of her imaginative take on Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring.

A full-length production featuring 13 performers, Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring comprises three sections. While the middle section employs Stravinsky’s distinctive score, the first and final sections are danced to original compositions modelled on traditional Tibetan music.

Stravinsky’s musical narrative provides a foundation, as Yang Liping reimagines the notion of pagan ritual sacrifice through Asian aesthetics. Her vision is influenced by Tibetan and Chinese symbols of nature, as well as beliefs in the cyclicity of life and death, and the inevitability of rebirth.

Yang Liping is known as the 'Peacock Princess' in her native China, where the peacock is a metaphor for beauty. This affectionate nickname derives from her most famous work, Spirit of the Peacock, inspired by the peacock folk dancing of her youth.

In Rite of Spring, Yang Liping returns to her roots and incorporates her unique dance language into a radical retelling that sees the sacrificial Chosen One assume the form of a peacock.

An experienced creative team brings Rite of Spring to fruition. Collaborators joining designer Tim Yip include the multi-award winning lighting designer Fabiana Piccioli, the creative producer Farooq Chaudhry and the dramaturg Geluo Liang.

Despite being yet another interpretation of one of the most revered musical scores for dance in the 20th century, Yang Liping’s take on heaven, earth and life may well intrigue London dance audiences.