Feifei Liao ‘Quiver’ group improv dance at MPavilion. Ph: Andrew Coulter

 

Where do you come from and how did you get to where you are?

I am Feifei and I was born and raised in China, I have been living in Melbourne for 13 years now. I'm originally from Sichuan, a place where everyone eats very spicy food; so chilli is our life (laughs). I moved to Australia by myself when I was 16 and I didn't know anyone here. I guess being so young I was unaware of what braveness or courage really meant, I was just full of curiosity. 

I finished high school and then studied actuarial, banking and finance. Now I work in community services. I also run the non-for-profit organisation Story is Connection, and I am a contemporary dancer. And it's quite interesting that I never thought about becoming a dancer. But somehow I think the pandemic enabled some of us to pick up some new skills. 

So actually dancing is a new skill I picked up during the lockdown. In recent years I have found myself almost reaching the burnout point. I started to feel like I was just a working machine. Keep working, keep working and people said to me  'Oh my God, you are so energetic all the time’. However, in the last few years, I was really exhausted. So I reached a point were both my body and my mind kind of separated.  And I felt I couldn't synchronise them back together. I started to feel sometimes that I wanted my body to communicate, but my body wouldn't move. So I thought ‘Maybe I can challenge my body in order to move feelings by doing a handstand'. Feel the fear. However I felt handstands were good, but still not enough and that's when I started to force my body to move and dance. I wanted to explore my uncomfortableness and fears. 

I went to see a friend who happened to be doing dance classes with my current dance teacher. And I was incredibly moved by the dance class. I joined the dance classes up tp this day.  Now I've trained by Yumi Umiumare and Tony Yap,  two acclaimed dancers. I have also now started to produce my own live performances and some dance films. You know, the phone makes life so much easier and make film production so much easier nowadays, as well.

What skill will you most like to master?

It's kind of interesting, because in the beginning, I was dancing for myself, to explore myself, psychologically challenging my self to work with both my body and my mind felt incredibly liberating. However, I think my dance practice has moved forward and is now enabling me to inspire others. Also, I am quite passionate about mental health. So at the moment I am working on combining both through a sort of therapeutic practice. I also love writing poetry so I want to find a way to incorporate that into my dance.  There are so many different things I want to master (laughs).
 

For you, what is the best thing about having a migrant background?

Well, coming from a different cultural background that is so rich. Before, I didn't realise how powerful it is to have a migrant background. As a Chinese it is important for me to acknowledge I was born and raised in China, as it is something that informs my perspective and makes me feel proud. Also having a distinctive mindset. For me personally, I believe in a growth mindset, and in having a creative mindset. All of this enables my practice to be authentic and to be relevant and relatable to other migrants. Australia is a migrant continent and through my dance practice I am able to connect with different audiences and make it meaningful.

 

What aspect of your creative process do you most look forward to and why?

In the processes, never, never ending exploration! And inspiration, I feel inspired every second.  Even during the last minute of my performance or the last instances of editing a dance film. I am the type of person who pays a lot of attention to details. And I also like to challenge myself to consider different perspectives, different angles. And then I never feel bored (laughs). 
 
What is the weirdest thing that has inspired you?

I'm particularly interested in small daily life objects. During lockdown when we were only allowed to travel within a 5km radius, I started to notice all the different walls and fences around my area.  I also made a film moving my camera around the rain drops on my window.  
 

What is your favourite place to dream away?

I have to say it's everywhere (laughs). When I was a little I was quite lonely and I used to spend most of my time just at home or outside but most of the time just by myself. So I had to create an imaginative world for myself. I watched a lot of animations, and I read a lot of comics and I think that enabled me to to create my own worlds. Since a young age I trained myself to be able to dream away no matter where I am, or what environment is around me. A lot of people need to find a quiet place to work or to meditate. But for me is easy to block everything and totally just settle in within my own world. 

 

 

If you could change one aspect of society through your work, what would it be?

An important question I like to ask myself in my creative practice is ‘what is it that makes us human?’ I want to feel human, and I want to see and inspire others to see each other as human. It sounds quite simple but I think because life is busy and we live our lives overwhelmed by everything is very easy to become numb and forget about the feelings we have, and the feelings others might have. I feel like we are constanltly loosing humanity, and loosing humility, and we forget we as humans are all the same, no matter what colour we are, or what language we speak, or where we come from, we are all the same.
 

What are your words of wisdom for someone starting out in your field?

Don't think too much, just do it. I mean, we come up with so many excuses. If you want to practice dance, you might think: I'm too shy. I'm not going to perform. My body is rigid. And they are all quite reasonable excuses. But you need to take action. Even right now, move your body, even just your neck, your head, your hands. Now feel and think and explore the feelings you feel while you are moving, thats a dance already. 

What item in your home do you most treasure?

This little purple man. It was a gift from two of my best friends who are now stuck in China. So whenever I see the little man it reminds me of them. They bought this for me because even though my singing is terrible, I'm always singing and I am always listening to music, I just love music! And this little purple man is a speaker! We used to be housemates and they had to bear so much of my singing (laughs).

Recommendations:
The book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg PhD
 

Connect with Feifei through her Linktree