Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky – A Dance Performance by Yinfu GAO
© Poster: Yi LI © Photo: YUN Tian
Revisiting “Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky” – How to dance Ding Ling 丁玲 (1904-1986) and why
A lecture dance performance with artist Yinfu Gao
Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky is a lecture dance performance . Through interviews, archival photographs, and dance, artist Yinfu Gao tells the story of her family and explores the question: Why should women never give up writing?
At the centre of this narrative stands Ding Ling（丁玲 1904-1986). She is one of the most influential Chinese writers of the 20th century. Despite 22 years of political persecution, she returned to the stage of history through her literary works. Inspired by Ding Ling’s feminist legacy, GAO reflects on her own relationship with writing and uncovers the deep-rooted connection among the writing women in her family.
The title Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky refers to the Maoist slogan “Women hold up half of the sky,” which encouraged women’s participation in public life in China—yet often under the condition of conforming to male ideals. The so-called “Half of the Sky Generation” includes women like Ding Ling, who have shaped and inspired artists like Gao.
Today, a new generation begins to question this influence: How can these stories be connected across generations and borders? And what impulses do they offer for the future?
About the Trilogy
This work is part of Yinfu Gao’s feminist theatre trilogy. The first part, Mulans, is inspired by the Chinese feminists of the May Fourth Movement over a hundred years ago and uses the story of Mulan to explore gender equality. The second part, Her Face, the Hands, Finally Her Hair, tells the story of Yinfu Gao’s grandmother during the Cultural Revolution. Starting from the image of the revolutionary woman in model plays（样板戏）, the piece asks: “What does revolution mean?” The third part, Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky, draws on the life of the revolutionary writer Ding Ling, a relative of Yinfu Gao’s, to reflect on the relationship between women and writing.
About the artist:
© Foto: YUN Tian
Yinfu Gao, born in 1995, from China, currently lives in Frankfurt am Main. She is a freelance performing artist, director, dramaturg, member of LaPROF, M. A Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Gießen. Her working method incorporates documentary theatre play and site-specific dance performance, which often addresses social issues in contemporary China. She had movement training in Martial Arts, pop dance and contemporary dance.
A cooperation between the research project “Peripheral Futures—Reading History from the Margins” of the Thematic Research Network “Denk(t)räume–(Re)thinking and Building Futures” and the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University.
Karin Betz übersetzt chinesische und englische Literatur, ist Kulturvermittlerin, Dozentin für literarisches Übersetzen, Moderatorin, Rezensentin und DJ. Zu den von ihr übersetzten Autoren gehören u.a. Literaturnobelpreisträger Mo Yan, Liao Yiwu, Cixin Liu, Xi Xi, Jin Yong und Can Xue. Für ihre Arbeit wurde sie mehrfach ausgezeichnet, u.a. mit der August-Wilhelm-von-Schlegel Gastprofessur für die Poetik der Übersetzung an der FU Berlin 2021, und zuletzt mit dem Helmut-M.-Braem-Übersetzerpreis 2024 und dem Special Book Award of China.
The exhibition explored the multiplicity of home and complexities of transcultural identity through the life and work of the composer LAM Bun-Ching. In celebration of her 70th birthday, it offered a first view at and chance to listen to her personal collection, which was aquired by the CATS Libary in 2022.