Interview with Chinese choreographer Yang Yi: Artists don't have to pretend to live like individuals.

Yang Yi, a choreographer from Hunan province, who started his own choreography, graduated from the Central University of Nationalities and did not have much of a male child. After four years at Peking University, he chose to stay and create, not because Beijing has the resources, but because Beijing is not good enough: "I would like to stay in Beijing to create, because Beijing is too complex, you feel a lot of have to and reality." 」

Before the interview with Yang Yi, I have a strong prejudice against the artist, the artist is in the mountains, the sea, not like the fairy not as the world, like a ghost love evildoers. Yang Yi But like my neighbor's friend, wearing a very short boxers, we see through the sea, as if can touch his small ping room sultry hot, his room hanging childhood photos, said: "You see, I was a child, very cute bar." "Very childish, he originally Turkey, may also think my question to art value drill very serious, chat deep he said coldly:" I particularly hate the artist to feel very artistic, what to pretend, is an individual, I feel to live like human. 」

Living like a man, he launched a series of works on the theme of revolutionary games, each of which is a rumination about the society's present time and space and its own life history.

Revolutionary Games: Culture does not need to be neat

Revolutionary games, to banter as the backbone of the vast Chinese feudal system in the disease trillion. Yang Yi is a child of the children, he is particularly playful, serious things, easy to talk about. The first "bold move forward" in 2014, met with the opening of China's foetuses policy: "The implementation of this policy makes me feel that the issue of women and reproductive rights is a human right, the content of the play specifically on the fate of women in China's current problems." "The field of Hope" is a tribute to Yang Yi's idol, who writes about the idealism of the young, the questioning of fate, and doubts about the existence of the female character.

Come to this will be the first bell in the Taipei Festival, but also to the International Contemporary Dance Festival in Munich, "minority", to Teresa Teng's "evening primrose" substrate, pointing to the female body lust, five ethnic women dance between their own identity and female value. Beijing has collected people from China's corners, and in Yang Yi's eyes, the educational policy is like a process of assimilation: "There are many Chinese-speaking minorities in Beijing who live in Beijing and have been changed by Beijing to dance, such as style, language, rhythm." "A university should have a systematic education system, Yang Yi feel that when the dance and the college hook, they entered the training mileage." Although the university teachers also go to folk to do their homework, but they bring things (ethnic dance) back to Beijing, textbooks more personalized, gave a lot of landscaping things, lost the original pure unique style ⋯⋯"

By the "neat beautification" of the dance less wild, coarse, such as a natural leaves lose their edges and corners, lose the edges. Yang Yi This play also talk about cultural conflict: "This time, this work I want to give out a bit of attitude is-you have to know yourself clearly, to know others, other people." How we live better, and more comfortably. "The Outsiders and the natives have their own homework, and he thinks the whole thing is:" We are so different and so are we. "(Recommended reading: Beyond the imagination of the body!) Chinese feminist artists: Pain is the salvation of Freedom

In a time when the labels were quickly labeled, Yang Yi thought we should have a higher awareness of ourselves, apart from the social identity, the state and the political role of the people. You are a woman, you are a person. We have the common feelings and characteristics of human nature. 」

Woman and father: the pain of acting on the mother

Yang Yi's view of women, he thought of his childhood, childhood parents very early divorced, Yang Yi and mother live much, his naughty eyes to see the plight of women at the bottom: "My mother is a very independent woman, the boy to Mother's dependence more, my concern for her life lies in the fate and marriage, so I in the observation of events, I often look at women, I pay attention to the pain of women. 」

Speaking of family life, Yang Yi stood up tiptoe, looking out of the door, clearly in his room but like thieves, light close the door. But outside the public space to open the air-conditioning, he wants to blow, then to open. Talking of Father again, Yang Yi closed again. I said, how do you keep closing the door? He smiled like a child: "Shut the door and tell the truth." 」

"I was nervous when I was a child, they have some domestic violence, but this is normal in China, I was independent when I was a child, I just want my mother to be with me all the time, but she is often absent." Yang Yi's mother was also a performer, the first to learn dance, and later to learn drama, however, the mother was not happy to see Yang Yi Walk this similar road. Yang Yi was thinking for a long time, as if he could never find the right words to talk about: "My father is not a special tube me." How to say ⋯⋯"

"My dad doesn't like me, he abused me, he was angry when he was a child. "When Yang Yi said," My father didn't like me, he hid his mouth and moved his body close to our video, as if there was a patriarchal ghost, still wandering around here. He could not tell why he was not a spoiled child. "I think he just doesn't like me, he hates me," he said. But after college, he changed. To go this way (theater work) you have to produce a feeling of hate, he most despise me to learn dance, said I was worthless, meaningless. I hate it, I got into it. (Recommended reading: drama Lesson for home violence: I hope that you live with me )

Yang Yi action and tone, as if to tell me not to worry, things passed, he tried to cloud light wind. He is a person who likes to joke, since childhood did not love reading, mischief, drama such as Yang Yi, parcel wound, introverted unfortunate, problem children make art, he Weibo has a note: "Contemporary China as long as there are problems, there is art." 」

What you have to do is not to fight, but to stay awake.

Yang Yi is very delicate boy, no matter in the work or life is, because of the love of his mother, so that his eyes delicate, I asked women to you have what effect? He quipped, "I am a woman." "Yang I Turn:" No, joke. 」

"In Asia, there is a feminization of masculinity, or female masculinity is not acceptable, this is a long-term culture, each country may have such a problem, for me, no matter what your character is, you can be very free to express their true, the question is, how to get along with others? (Recommended reading: Why do we love the Danish Girl, but not the transgender side?) )

He cited the most popular movie of the year, "War Wolf": "The film is very male gas, including the director said men will have a man's appearance, I think it is very cheap sensational." Or you see Venus, the media is concerned about her gossip, not her doing affirmative action deeds. 」

How can such a person communicate with other people? Yang Yi used the play to say: "You have to find ways to maintain a sober, do not need to struggle, recognize it, and maintain a game and equality with it, so that they can not be manipulated by the environment." "He reflects on these issues, he is chewing out the current situation of contemporary Chinese society, so the" minority "also talk about gender and local relations:

"There is also an ideology, the problem is not only women, the people living here, especially after 90 of us, not only the gender, the place and environment of their own lives, there is no sober understanding?" I think it's a recognition of my relationship with the society. Not wanting to do this will lead them to become more and more simplistic in the direction of making money, the value of a single success, and the most secure direction for him. 」

Art and freedom, go to your mother.

Some people watch Yang Yi's play treason, said he is China's different number, Yang Yi seems to feel very surprised: "I think I am not, he said" different "may be my work style, I think I am very grounded gas. 」

He seems very magnanimous, do not need to be the most unusual: "What others say I do not care, I particularly hate the artist feel very artistic, what to pretend, is an individual, I think to live like a person." 」

Yang Shitong think: "I really want to say that I am a different number, may be in love, I love is very sentimental, but the character is very cheerful and lively." "Finish love, do not forget a, sentimental and brilliant smile."

What is an artist? What a big question, he replied: "No artist, this is a myth of identity." When we are not talking about his art, but his people, he is not good in this circle, this is the general situation in China. You see a lot of artists, work space is particularly big, I hate, you love how to think, the so-called free works, go to your mother. 」

Feel the art of business behavior, but also to choose the right way, Yang, I am angry: "I am not art, I am a person who is exactly the same as others." Now artists need to be questioned, people can not be simplified, the environment is not simple, the simpler you are to be successful by the environment. 」

Yang Yi felt that art should not be forced, just as he thought he wanted to solve the problem, not lose the problem. From Hunan to Beijing, is to toeing Beijing's rules of the game: "I am not a pure artist, I create a strong purpose, I just want to arouse discussion, not impromptu play." I ask my work to have a sense of social responsibility, I highly recommend that art is shaped, not beyond the human beyond the philosophy of life, I hope I do things that can promote the development of social and human rights. (Recommended reading: summoning the innocent witch: The act artist is naked on the road to the world )

"Life can be simple, but you can't be simple. "He left this word, really.

I take the main road, I will kill myself.

Although Yang Yi's plays are good at talking about evil, the means he deals with are related to how contemporary people develop their own relationship with society. "This is an insecure generation," Yang Yi said. 」

"Our generation of children is the most insecure, many people want to graduate from graduate school, many parents only want to arrange you into stable units." There are fewer people to create and start a business, and the quality of making things is getting worse. "People like him are standing in an awkward position, not the mainstream, but no one is walking," he said. (Recommended reading: to adults in the hearts of teenagers!) They exploded one day before graduation: My justice is good.

"My way is not the mainstream road, the first is not stable work, like this to walk the contemporary theater dancer, a lot of choreography, but not enough." I am not very brave, is I cannot walk that stable road, too afflictive, I certainly cannot, I will commit suicide. 」

Family conditions and environment are not supported Yang Yi go on, but he insisted, because the success of others, is his dead.

Don't go on a perfunctory road

A lot of times, his sharpness and the very practical way of talking, all let me forget that he is learning dance origin. He loved dancing before, and now he has abandoned some pure dance performances without ideas. "I am in the Theatre of contemporary art, which has a functional nature and must look at many social problems." It should be a serious, black energy space for me. "What is the black energy?" He continued: "Evil energy, evil things are real things, in order to let people think about the front, I now work, are going to find the human nature of things, I believe that the human nature of evil, the only way to see the real things, not sensational, to reflect the positive." 」

A lot of perfunctory things, I can not deliberately to find a perfunctory way to go.

"The dance taught me at first, now I accept more, appreciate the common energy, the ego is not important, the energy of the ego and other people's relationship is important." I am ambiguous with the dance, it doesn't matter to see it now, it is always with me. "Because of the sharp pain, he reflected:" Although I was a dance background, but I did not like most people were abducted by dancing. For me, dance is nothing, I do not care about it, I care more about interesting things, movies or drama, contemporary art, or behavioral art. 」

Yang Yi's Contemporary theater Road by the Fabre [Note 1], Lars von Trier [Note 2], Jia Zhang Ke inspired, bold and crazy aesthetic form, with the reality of the performance content. He jokes that he used to call the homeless in India: "I called him for money, he was traveling in India, asked him to sponsor my play, of course, he did not agree, haha." 」

Yang Yi never felt that he was a special person, but he must not be ordinary. I find it interesting to talk about one of the fragments of the minority. In the play there are five ethnic groups, of which Macao is no ethnic, Macao does not have a national concept, Yang Yi not only attempted to discuss the identity of the post-colonial state, human consciousness, choreographer he let Macao female dancers in the "evening primrose" in the accompaniment of undress, Yang Yi said:

"70 80, women can't say in the lyrics what I love, what I love, this is a woman's desire to relax the song, Macao dancers Naked expression, I want to focus on is not the part she took off, but she covered, skin and affixed to the privacy of the place, I want to discuss is not naked, but the environment obscured. 」

Yang Yi went on to tell a joke, the Chinese people have a male to the "multi-ethnic" mainly sauna shop, the ladies a row of clothes stripped naked stood to the candidate, the man said: "They took off the clothes, I would have known which is which nationality." 」

Clothes off, identity off, people are the same. I think Yang Yi has been awe-inspiring solemn position this sentence, with his banter naughty laugh open facial features.