Li Chiao-Ping has created over 100 dance compositions during her lifetime, but she said she is most proud of her latest project, “Here Lies the Truth.”
Performing at CounterPulse Sept. 29-Oct. 1, “Here Lies the Truth’’ is an hour-long dance-theater work with mixed-media components that explores “truth” as it relates to race, power, access and equity, especially from the viewpoints of marginalized communities.
“It feels as if we are unveiling ourselves, that we are unmasked,” said Li, who is of Chinese descent. “We are sharing how we feel, what we’ve experienced.”
Li’s inspiration for the piece was stoked by the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the proliferation of fake news and alternative facts. Her exasperation and confusion intensified as recent years brought police violence, anti-Asian hate crimes and malicious rhetoric spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I needed to have an outlet, I think, for the frustration I was feeling,” said Li. “I am not a politician. I am an artist. I feel like what I can do and share is something that can make commentary,” she explained.
Raised in San Francisco’s Western Addition, Li’s introduction to dance was entirely accidental. The choreographer wanted to learn kung fu but Li’s mother signed her up for what she thought were ballet classes.
Instead, Li was registered for a creative movement class, which served as an introduction to performance and self-expression.
The class helped Li find “freedom, liberation of spirit, permission to move and to be in my body,” she recalled, adding “those are pretty rare moments, at least for a young Asian American child who was growing up pretty traditionally.”
Li’s love for the arts blossomed in her free time as she glued herself to the family television set, living vicariously through musical greats such as Gene Kelly and Shirley Temple as well as through kung fu movies.
Her early training mostly consisted of participating in gymnastics while attending Herbert Hoover Middle School and Lowell High School. Once she gained enough experience, Li took on a part-time job as a gymnastics instructor and used her paychecks to afford dance classes.
Li’s artistic aspirations were an anomaly in her family. “It wasn’t something that any of their friends’ kids were pursuing, so it was very risky for them to let me dream about it,” she said. Nonetheless, Li’s parents let her pursue modern dance as long as she did well in school.
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Her father, who Li calls an artist at heart, routinely picked her up from late-night dance classes and allowed Li to turn her childhood bedroom into a makeshift studio, complete with a homemade ballet barre and walls lined with mirrors from a store’s liquidation sale.
Li attended college at the UC Santa Cruz where she was going “to be a dutiful daughter and pursue something that made sense to (my parents) and somewhat made sense to me,” she said.
She sifted through anthropology, psychology and mathematics courses for two years, but then decided to major in dance during her junior year.
Li graduated and moved to New York City in the hope of becoming a dancer in a professional company. However, as she attended more workshops and concerts, she said, “I realized that I did have something to say,” and started to consider founding her own dance company.
After earning her master’s degree from UCLA and landing a teaching position at Hollins University in Virginia, Li began developing works of her own.
She premiered Li Chiao-Ping Dance in San Francisco in 1990 at the Mozart and His Time Festival at Theater Artaud, performing “Yellow River,” her first solo work. The piece earned rave reviews from local media outlets.
Since then, Li has presented her works throughout North and South America. She’s been on faculty at Mills College, served as dance program director of Hollins University and chaired the dance department at University of Wisconsin-Madison Dance as well as been the subject of two documentaries. Li has also won awards from the Asian Pacific Women’s Network, National Arts Association and the Los Angeles Arts Council.
“Here Lies the Truth,” which is a collaboration between Li, sound designer and composer Tim Russell, dramaturge Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento and visual artist Douglas Rosenberg, contains a cast of 11 dancers, live music, spoken text and visual projections. Li said performers share their stories, live their “truths” and give visibility to parts of their identities that have historically been chastised or overlooked.
As the show’s San Francisco debut inches closer, Li is eager to premiere the work in her hometown.
“It is really an honor to have everyone together, to believe in it and to put so much energy behind it,” said Li. “Performing anywhere is scary because it’s risky. It’s been a while since I’ve brought a full-length production to San Francisco. I’m excited but nervous.”
