Dancer Yan He: Making her way outside the system

Stage photo of Yan He in Whispering of Water. [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A lithe and fresh-faced dancer - costumed in black robes with red lining, loose hair almost down to her waist - pivoted continuously on the stage for 10 minutes in water dripping from chunks of ice overhead and within a beam of light seemingly to be engulfed by the endless darkness; "seismic waves" from the dark heralded the devastation of the universe.

The scene, played out this spring at China's National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), is from the modern dance Whispering of Water, directed, choreographed and danced by an artist named Yan He, who was invited to perform and sponsored by the NCPA this year. Last year she also performed there, at her own expense.

"I am an outsider from the system," Yan said, referring to her lack of affiliation with any organization, company, or governmental department.

“Working for nobody other than herself, the young Chinese artist made the risky transition, at least in the eyes of her artist friends, to solely perform as an independent dancer in 2007.”

"It's very hard to be nurtured into a fully-fledged dancer; the appearance fees for a prominent dancer cannot even compare with those for an obscure pop singer," said Mu Yu, an associate professor with the Beijing Dance Academy in a media interview this year. "Many outstanding graduates from famed academies end up only making it to the reserve force, let alone the independent dancers."

Yan has few classmates who remain in this line of work.

"Most of them have switched to other sectors, like financial management or being a mum," Yan laughed.

"Some girls study dancing because they want to get a decent job, to marry a rich husband - students from arts schools have the edge - or to win a gold award to get promotions," Yan said from her own experience of being a guest teacher in a number of schools in China.

"But I simply enjoy dancing. I feel I am living only while moving."

Two years ago Yan threw all her savings into her maiden production Whispering of Water.

Yan had neither production team nor promotion agency, with the exception of help from her friends and some interested journalists. She also had no financial support. Yan has two reasons for such a minimalist approach to fame-seeking.

"For one thing, I don't want my production to be affected by commercial concerns," she said. For another, she is, in her own words, "outside the system."