Chinese part of global She Said dance project
Chinese dancer-choreographer Wang Yabin is expressive onstage but off it she is a soft-spoken person.
“A woman is like the ocean that looks quiet and peaceful but could be restless and roaring,” she says.
The 33-year-old has turned this idea into her latest choreography work, titled M-Dao, part of the English National Ballet’s She Said project.
The project, comprising Wang’s piece, ColombianBelgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Broken Wings and Canadian choreographer Aszure Barton’s Fantastic Beings, premiered at Sadler’s Wells in London in 2016.
In April, the English National Ballet won the 2017 Laurence Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in dance for expanding its repertoire with She Said, and British choreographer Akram Khan’s Giselle.
“It was my first internationally commissioned work. I am glad that as a Chinese artist I joined the challenging project,” says Wang.
“Although I wasn’t there when the English National Ballet accepted the award at the Royal Albert Hall, I was very excited about it.”
The Laurence Olivier award is an annual honor established in 1976 and presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of achievements in commercial British theater.
Since 2009, Wang has gathered dancers from around the world each year to present her production Yabin and Her Friends.
She has three productions so far — Genesis choreographed by Sidi Larbi Chekaoui from Belgium; Dream
in Three Episodes that featured her choreography alongside Elizabeth RoxasDobrish from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; and Moon Opera choreographed by Wang.
With Yabin and Her Friends now in its ninth year, Wang plans to invite young dancers and choreographers from countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative to work together on a production that is scheduled to be staged in 2018.
In 2012, Wang met Tamara Rojo, the artistic director and principal dancer of the English National Ballet, in London for the first time when she was touring Britain with Genesis.
Two years later, Wang received an invitation from Rojo to join in She Said, involving three different female choreographers from three continents.
Rojo said in an earlier interview that she selected Wang for her unique dance background and beautiful pieces.
“I was curious to know how female choreographers from different cultures can unite in this platform,” Wang says, adding that she spent weeks in London working on her choreography.
In her work, Wang has combined the tragic story of the ancient Greek play Medea with classical Chinese dance moves to interpret the characters’ feelings, with music by British composer Jocelyn Pook, who has used Western and traditional Chinese instruments.
“There is love, hate and revenge,” Wang says of the play, where she also shows the Greek play’s key character Medea’s gentle side and her anger against her husband’s betrayal.
With the silky backdrop symbolizing the softness of female roles in the piece, Wang also asked Laurretta Summerscales, the principal dancer of the English National Ballet, who played the role of Medea, to wear only one shoe and dance to show the two aspects of Medea’s personality.
Wang, who is from Tianjin, started learning traditional Chinese folk dance at the age of 6. She is best known for a dance sequence in famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou’s 2004 movie, House of Flying Daggers.
In M-Dao, the choreographer has presented the techniques of Chinese folk dance, including breathing and hand gestures.
“Wang Yabin transposes the story of Medea to a world of exquisitely billowing silks and calligraphic light effects,” the Guardian newspaper says in a review of the show.
“She Said offers a platform for female choreographers to have their voices heard,” Wang says.
Wang has expanded her studio for workshops for amateurs, hoping to not just offer dance training programs but also to cultivate more fans of the art form.
“The stage is magical and tempting. I want to share this unspeakable feeling with more people.”