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Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky

Full Performance Video

The dance performance Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky, a dance performance that brings together interviews, archival photographs, and body gestures to explore one central question:

Why should women never give up writing?

Team
Concept / Production / Performer: Yinfu Gao
Tanzdramaturgie: Patscharaporn Distakul
Music: Chloe Liuyan Liu
Light: Simon Lenzen
Poster Design: Yi Li
Research Support: Xiaoya Fang, Wenxuan Lu, Alex Wilke, Selina Kötter, Chengcheng Hu
Special thanks to my grandmother Jiebing Jiang.

Supported by:

Thanks for the support of Kulturamt Frankfurt, HMWK, Offenes Haus der Kulturen, Sinologie Department of Goethe University

Through the story of my family and the life of the revolutionary writer Ding Ling (丁玲 1904–1986), this work reflects on the legacy of women who wrote—despite political oppression, historical turbulence, and silence imposed upon them. Inspired by Ding Ling’s life experience, I look at how writing has shaped generations of women in my own family and how their stories continue to resonate today.

In the choreographic research, we studied the artistic policies and performance practices of 1937–1942, the turning point in Ding Ling’s literary trajectory. We discovered that Western ballroom dances—introduced by journalists from the Frankfurter Zeitung—and local Yangko folk dances once existed side by side in the same historical locations. At the same time, Ding Ling’s writing shifted from being influenced by Western translated literature to focusing on the revolutionary experiences of “workers, peasants, and soldiers.” These layered encounters between Eastern and Western dance forms, literary models, and political consciousness—within one single body—lead us back to two fundamental questions:

What is the relationship between art and politics? And how is a revolutionary body shaped?

Special Program

For those interested in Ding Ling or this historical period, each performance will be followed by a 30-minute talk by Xiaoya Fang from the Freie Universität Berlin (Art History of East Asia), followed by a conversation between me and the audience.

Photo by Emma (Yun Tian)

Konzept
„Half of the sky, the whole sky“ ist ein dokumentarisches Theaterstück. Durch Interviews, alte Fotografien und Tanz erzählt die Künstlerin Yinfu Gao die Geschichte ihrer Familie und erforscht die Frage: Warum sollten Frauen niemals das Schreiben aufgeben?
Eine zentrale Figur in dieser Erzählung ist Ding Ling （丁玲 1904-1986）. Sie ist eine der bedeutendsten Schriftstellerinnen des 20. Jahrhunderts in China. Trotz 22 Jahren politischer Verfolgung kehrte sie mit ihren literarischen Werken auf die Bühne der Geschichte zurück. Inspiriert von Ding Lings feministischer Bewegung setzt sich Yinfu mit ihrer eigenen Beziehung zum Schreiben auseinander und entdeckt die tief verwurzelte Verbindung zwischen den schreibenden Frauen ihrer Familie.
Der Titel „Half of the sky, the whole sky“ nimmt Bezug auf das maoistische Motto „Frauen stämmen die Hälfte des Himmels“, das Frauen in China zur gesellschaftlichen Teilhabe ermutigte – jedoch oft unter der Bedingung, sich männlichen Vorbildern anzupassen. Die sogenannte „Die Hälfte des Himmels-Generation“ umfasst jene Frauen, die uns geprägt und inspiriert haben – wie Ding Ling. Heute beginnt eine neue Generation, diesen Einfluss zu hinterfragen: Wie können diese Geschichten über Generationen und Grenzen hinweg miteinander verbunden werden? Und welche Impulse geben sie für die Zukunft?

Trilogie
Dieses Werk ist Teil der feministischen Theater-Trilogie von Yinfu. Der erste Teil, Mulans, ist von den chinesischen Feministinnen der Zeit der „Bewegung des 4. Mai“ vor über hundert Jahren inspiriert und verwendet die Geschichte von Mulan, um die Frage der Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter zu erforschen. Der zweite Teil, Her Face, the Hands, Finally Her Hair, erzählt die Geschichte von Yinfu Gaos Großmutter während der Kulturrevolution. Ausgehend vom Bild der revolutionären Frau in den Modellopern fragt das Stück: „Was bedeutet Revolution?“ Der dritte Teil, Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky, greift das Leben der berühmten revolutionären Schriftstellerin Ding Ling aus Yinfu Gaos Familie auf und untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Frauen und dem Schreiben.

Concept
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, Yinfu reflects on her own relationship to 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 us. 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’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 play（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, to reflect on the relationship between women and writing.

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