Meet Zhihan Yang

Today we’d like to introduce you to Zhihan Yang.

Hi Zhihan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am from Hubei, China, the part of the Central China region. I am a Choreographer, dancer and educator. I received my MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and BFA from Beijing Dance Academy and is currently based in Los Angeles.

Unlike many people who have been raised in an artistic family and have pursued a career in the arts, my parents and even my entire family are not involved in the arts. Talking about my relationship with dance is a bit of a funny origin. I remember when I was in elementary school, many children would learn Latin dance in the summer, and they always walked around in a pair of golden high-heeled dance shoes after learning the dance class, on the street, in the supermarket, at the fruit stand, etc. I have a profound impression of these shoes, and as an eight-year-old child, these shoes gave me a curiosity to try them out. In order to wear these shoes, I asked my mother to send me to Latin dance lessons. In retrospect, when an iconic dance item can be found in many places and its attributes used outside of a specific scenario, it achieves a good advertising effect.

Later on, I wore those shoes as I wished and sweated profusely that summer. It was the first time that I experienced the ultimate release of my body’s power and the direct and repeated use of every muscle on the body, and that feeling was profound. But at that time, I didn’t understand what dance meant to me. Then somehow, I was on the path that every Chinese kid learning to dance goes through—Chinese dance. I learned a lot of techniques and tumbling, which was very satisfying for my naughty nature. I relished the challenge of some unusual moves in which I found pleasure in the learning process, but I still didn’t care what dance really had to do with me.

After I graduated from elementary school, I was keen on performing, so I naturally entered a vocational dance school, I didn’t realize that dancing had become a part of my life and a habit in my blood since then. During my six years at the vocational dance school, the day after day of high-intensity training, strict standard and discipline made me have very complex emotions about it. My muscles would take the initiative to tell me what to do, but I did not know where my consciousness was as if all the standards had very specific rules, but I couldn’t help but face it with all my might. With the expectation of my family, and a determination to prove myself, I began my arduous and long road of art examination—a painful and valuable journey that would shape my life in important ways. In this way, through hard work and a little luck, I was accepted into the best dance school in China——Beijing Dance Academy, which was the turning point that inspired me to come to the United States to study dance. In my undergraduate studies, I was introduced to modern dance, which overturned and broke my old physical habits. The value of my body was reconstructed, which gave me a great shock. Furthermore, in this process, a sense of consciousness and autonomy slowly woke up, and I found the connection that was invisible but could be described by the body. I couldn’t help wanting to explore more, which is why I came here.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has certainly not been an easy path, and I think more of the difficulty has been in the transformation of my thinking during the process of learning the dance path.

When I first came into contact with dance in vocational school, I only thought that the relationship between myself and dance was only about completing standard movements and meet the requirements of teachers within the rules, but I never thought about what was my own “expression” and what represented the “cultural” body. Because basic skills are the most important part, teachers will pay great attention to the technical skills training; everyone’s body is sculpted very delicate, a lot of difficult movements can be finished; In many rehearsals, we are taught to pursue uniformity, not to have too many parts of the personality jump out, but day after day, everyone is exactly the same. I think the saddest thing is not that I am being suppressed because I have a strong personality but that in such a teaching environment, how can people who do not have their own style have more potential in such a situation? Do we have the opportunity to be encouraged to create? Fortunately, I have the opportunity to grow and deepen my understanding of myself in the process of continuous learning.

When I entered college, I first had the opportunity to be exposed to a blend of training from different disciplines and I was able to understand dance from multiple perspectives. Also, I had the profound influence from many great mentors. During my four years in college, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be exposed to many courses, such as: Chinese classical dance, Chinese folk dance, Ballet, Modern dance, Choreography, Labanotation, Dance pedagogy, Orff music pedagogy and so on, which also included being subdivided into various dance genres. After these training, I have gained a better understanding of the richness of dance and a clearer awareness of the intertwining and intrinsic connections between disciplines, thus gaining more experience in my own path of dance development. In my past dance performance experiences, I focused more on the external interpretation. When I entered college, I began to consciously bring thinking into dance. I learned that the expression of emotions is not simply joy, anger, sadness or superficial gestures but an expression that gradually develops from inner perception. I experienced a lot of self-questioning in this process, and at the same time, it was very difficult to jump out of the self-examination, so I was grateful to keep learning and discovering myself in a new understanding.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I have been active in theater, media, film and education in recent years, working with companies such as the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, the Yaya Dance Academy, and the San Musae Cultural Center in the United States. My recent works include the orchestral trio choreography “THEA MUSGRAVE: Pierrot” (2023), the dance theater “Am I Susan” (2022), the physical theater “XXX” (2022), and the quintet “Gladiola” (2021), dance film “Question” (2022), “Rush” (2021), “Refresh” (2021) and “Retrospect” (2021).

I am interested in exploring the different meanings and fluidity of things in different cultural contexts in my works; how should we think about simplification in order to return to the essence itself. I have a huge interest and passion for dance theatre and dance film. Dance theater is my ideal place, a sacred place for me, where I can bring people into the spiritual home I have created and give them more experiences and emotions to reflect on themselves, people, and the environment. Dance film is a way to present more dimensions and changes through the language of the camera. In this creative process, I have honed my technical mastery even more, which is not easy, but I love the challenge. It is in all the challenges that I discover my abilities. I grew up in a professional Chinese dance training background, and yes, I have a love-hate relationship with it. With this experience, I have strong physical fundamentals and I am able to quickly learn different styles of dance training; the hard and rigorous training gives me more perseverance and toughness to complete everything; when I am in a learning environment of different cultures, I have a unique way of thinking and perspective on things, which helps me to create from a bigger picture and reflect on the expression of the body in a multicultural context. I think in this process I have evolved into a more adaptable person, especially in the age of the epidemic, when what we have is limited. Very often we do not have a very powerful creative environment and are not idealized to get everything we envisaged, so I am able to gradually tune myself in the limited conditions and make the creation achievable.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
In terms of personal experience, from the past to the present stage of dance learning, I think the most important thing is to learn to talk to yourself first. Practitioners of any art form need to first understand their own passion and energy in order to produce a close and sincere expression. At present, I have felt deeply during my postgraduate study: To experiment, to take risks. No matter when keep trying and making mistakes. Think after the result or change.

The great charm and inspiration of dance brought me is that it doesn’t define a body or a movement. Its inspirations have evolved to be as diverse and complex as life itself. Perhaps it is an expression, a culture, the presentation of aesthetic diversity, and the existence of each individual.

I have always believed that people’s potential can be released through the environment, so I will not define what kind of career I will live in, but I must know what kind of person I want to become. At the same time, on the road of getting along with dance, I will continue to explore more possibilities and ways of expression. No matter what, body, movement will always be with.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://zhihanyangdance.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_zhihanyang_/

Image Credits
Photography by HUAKO, Yunlu Song, Shining Ban, Zoe Tiller, Zhihan Yang and Rafael Hernandez-Ispache.