Title: The Relationship Between Modern Dance and Chinese Culture

Speaker: Willy Tsao

Time: Wednesday, April 22，2026, 14:00-16:00

(Doors open at 13:30, half an hour before the lecture begins)

Venue: Sunrise Concert Hall, Xueyuan Road Campus

Registration:

Students: Please click the link below to register via the Boya platform (https://bykc.buaa.edu.cn).

Faculty and Staff: Please scan the QR code to register.

Abstract：

This lecture introduces three core artistic characteristics of modern dance — individuality, originality, and contemporaneity—and compares them with China's profound historical and cultural traditions, including Confucianism and Taoism. Through this comparative lens, the lecture will demonstrate how modern dance resonates with and merges into contemporary Chinese intellectual and cultural trends.

About the Speaker:

Willy Tsao is a highly influential figure in China's contemporary dance development as a choreographer, educator, curator, manager and director. Born and educated in Hong Kong, he holds an MBA from the University of Hong Kong and has been awarded Honorary Fellowship and an Honorary Doctorate from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

In 1979, he founded the City Contemporary Dance Company, the first professional modern dance company in Hong Kong. In 1987, he helped launch the first modern dance training program in Chinese mainland, serving as an instructor at the Guangdong Dance School's modern dance program. Over the following decades, he has held key positions including Artistic Director of the Guangdong Experimental Modern Dance Group, Guest Tutor at the Beijing Dance Academy, and Artistic Director of both the Beijing Modern Dance Company and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. In 2005, he founded the BeijingDance/LDTX (Lei Dong Tian Xia) and has served as its Artistic Director ever since.

Tsao has received numerous prestigious honors, including the "Louis Cartier Award for Excellence — Outstanding Choreographer," the "Bronze Bauhinia Star" by the Hong Kong SAR Government, and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council for his immense and invaluable achievement and contributions to Hong Kong dance. In 2018, he was invited by the Dance Committee of the International Theater Institute, a partner of the UNESCO, to be the Message Author for Asia-Pacific and delivered the message on International Dance Day. With over 60 choreographic works to his name, Cao has also established national platforms for dance exchange and continues to drive the development of modern dance in China.

Editor: Lyu Xingyun