Wang Yabin Photo: Courtesy of Wang Yabin

She was the dance choreographer for director Zhang Yimou's film House of Flying Daggers. She founded the dance studio Yabin Studio, building it into an internationally recognized brand name through high quality performances over six years. She is also an actress of TV drama Rural Love, which has made her a familiar face to Chinese audiences across the nation.

In 2015, she was invited as one of the choreographers for the English National Ballet's huge show She Said, a program dedicated to female choreography. Meanwhile she continues to bring latest iterations of her annual dance show Yabin and Her Friends to stages across the world.

While she also writes and produces, her most important role is still that of famed dancer Wang Yabin.

Mutual choice

Wang began learning to dance when she was 6 years old. Initially her parents chose dance purely as a way to improve Wang's health as she was a very skinny girl. Wang's dance teacher quickly discovered her gift for dance and suggested that her parents support her to become a professional dancer.

The decision was a tough one for Wang's family, as making a living as a dancer was barely possible during the 1980s. However, when Wang's family saw an announcement for new dance students in a newspaper, they decided to take Wang to Beijing and start her on a journey to becoming a professional dancer.

Wang was younger than most of her classmates and always looked smaller than other dancers her age. When it was time to decide what type of dance to pursue, she was advised to take traditional Chinese dance instead of ballet.

By the time she reached her college years at the Beijing Dance Academy, Wang had grown into a tall young woman with slender lengthy arms and legs that became a standout surprise to everyone during one of the university's performances.

"I think that not only did I choose dance, but dance also chose me," Wang told the Global Times.

After 10 years of hard work she had learned nearly everything about traditional Chinese dance, and had won numerous prizes at different national dance competitions. 

When that was not enough anymore, she started expanding her expertise to contemporary dance as well as other forms of art, which led to her pursuing a master degree in acting at the Beijing Film Academy and later the beginnings of her annual Yabin and Her Friends.

During our interview I noticed Wang liked to move her hands and use body language when she talks.

"For me dance is like blood," she said. "No separation between work and life. It is everywhere."   

World stage

Years of training in traditional Chinese dance has earned Wang a special place on the world stage of contemporary dance. Even when she performs contemporary pieces, experts sense a unique Eastern feel to her movements.

During her global tour in 2014, nearly all the reviews talked about the impressions of extreme softness and flexibility that Wang gave audiences. In Wang's opinion, this stems from the influence traditional Chinese dance had on her.

As for her studies in contemporary dance, Wang sees this form of dance as a type of international language.

Over the past few years, Yabin Studio has been working with a number of famous choreographers such as Mark Haim, Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. At a conference for 2013's Yabin and Her Friends season five, titled Genesis, Cherkaoui described Wang saying, "I am not only amazed by Yabin's versatility as an accomplished young dancer, choreographer and producer, but I am also impressed by her creative ideas and unrelenting pursuit of art."

An international coproduction between independent dance companies, Genesis was well received globally. Although, not a lot of dance artists in China can be a dancer, choreographer and producer like Wang, the success of Genesis offered an inspirational example for Chinese dancers.

"You need to learn the international language to communicate with the world," Wang explained. 

"The world stage is not as big as you may think," Wang told the Global Times, adding that dancers are sure to be noticed so long as they are energetic and dedicated to their craft.  

New performances

A show focusing on women choreographers, She Said will consist of three new pieces each lasting 20-40 minutes. Wang added that she plans to begin working with dancers from the English National Ballet for the show later this year.

Wang explained that from her experience the most crowd pleasing works are those that allow audiences to feel the feminine qualities of a work in a natural way while also not being restricted by the female identity. Wang has set this as her goal, while also looking to add in a bit more of Eastern culture.

Wang is also working on another show called Moon Opera, which will debut at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts in October of this year. An adaptation of a novel by award-winning writer Bi Feiyu, the story features a Peking opera singer who struggles between reality and the role she plays. 

Over the next three months, Wang plans to go into full-on training mode to get ready for the performance. Working everyday from morning to evening, the preparation will be extremely tiring both mentally and physically. "You need to know the character, the plot and have logic in the drama, as well as be able to find the most suitable dance movements to represent all these elements."

One of Wang's principles is to conduct solid research about her project. Unlike other artists who care more about the what and how of a story and choreograph routines corresponding to the theme, Wang cares about the why behind a story as much as the what and how. 

"Every single body movement needs to have meaning," she said, explaining that her goal is to find the best way to tell the story while ensuring content and form go hand in hand.