Blanca Li facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Blanca Li
Li in 2011
Born	(1964-01-12) January 12, 1964 (age 61) Granada, Spain
Education	Martha Graham School
Occupation	Choreographer, film director, dancer, actress
Years active	1986-present
Current group	Blanca Li Dance Company
Dances	Contemporary dance, hip hop, flamenco, ballet, electro dance

Blanca Li, whose full name is Blanca María Gutiérrez Ortiz, is a famous Spanish dancer, choreographer, film director, and actress. She was born on January 12, 1964.

Blanca Li has created dances for many famous groups. These include the Paris Opera Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera. She has also worked with well-known filmmakers like Pedro Almodóvar and Michel Gondry. Music stars such as Beyoncé, Daft Punk, Paul McCartney, Kanye West, and Coldplay have also used her choreography. Blanca Li loves to bring her ideas to life. She uses many different dance styles, from flamenco to classical ballet and hip-hop.

Early Life and Training

Blanca Li was born in 1964 in Granada, Spain. She grew up in a large family with nine members. As a child, she started taking flamenco dance lessons. When she was twelve, she joined a contest to be part of the Spanish Rhythmic Gymnastics Team.

She was accepted into the team. However, she left six months before the Olympics due to growth issues. But Blanca still needed to be active. So, she decided to focus on dance instead of gymnastics.

At seventeen, Blanca moved to New York City. For five years, she trained as a dancer and choreographer. She studied at the famous Martha Graham School. She also learned from other great dancers like Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham.

While in New York, Blanca lived in Harlem. There, she saw the beginning of hip hop dance. Her first show was in the East Village. It mixed different styles like classical, modern, and hip hop dance. In New York, Blanca met Etienne Li. He was a mathematician and a graffiti artist. He designed posters for her first show and later became her partner.

During her time in New York, Blanca and her sister formed a flamenco-rap band called Xoxonees. They danced in flamenco dresses. They got an offer in Spain and released an album in 1989. In the late 1980s, she started her first dance company in Madrid. This company performed at the Universal Exposition of Seville in 1992.

Later in 1992, she moved to Paris. In her first year there, she worked in a cabaret. This helped her meet many singers and artists.

Blanca Li's Dance Company

In 1993, Blanca Li started her own contemporary dance company in Paris. Since then, her company has created many important dance shows. In 1998, she opened her own dance studios in Paris. Her shows often mix different dance styles and have a fun, lively feel.

Macadam Macadam, a hip-hop show from 1999, became very famous. It toured all over the world. In 2006, Macadam Macadam won an award for Best Musical. Blanca also created a solo show called Zap! Zap! Zap!. It was very popular in Paris and New York City.

Blanca gets ideas from many places. She found inspiration from traditional ceremonies in Morocco for her show Nana et Lila. She also looked at ancient Greek art for Le Songe du Minotaure. Her show Borderline (2002) explored the challenges of our modern world. For this, she worked with artists Jorge and Lucy Orta.

Corazón Loco combined dancers with opera singers. Poet in New York was inspired by poems about New York City. This show was seen by almost 150,000 people in Spain and Paris.

Li, NAO, dancers and crew of "Robot" at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015.

In 2013, Blanca Li Dance Company celebrated its 20th anniversary. They had four shows touring with over 100 performances:

• Macadam Macadam continued touring with a team of Spanish and French hip hop dancers.
• Garden of Earthly Delights was a dream-like show. It was inspired by a painting by Hieronymus Bosch.
• Elektro Kif featured the new "electro" street dance style. This dance style started in France and became popular worldwide. The show toured in many countries.
• Robot premiered in 2013. It featured Japanese artists Maywa Denki and NAO robots. This show was praised for using robots on stage in new ways.

Robot was also shown for a week at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015.

Opera, Theater, and Art Projects

Blanca Li has also choreographed and produced many projects for large institutions. In 1997, she directed and choreographed two operas. In 1999, the Paris Opera asked her to create a modern dance for the opera Les Indes galantes. This opera is now a regular part of the Opéra's shows.

In 2001, the famous Paris Opera Ballet asked Blanca Li to create a new ballet. It was based on Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. A famous designer, Christian Lacroix, created the costumes.

From 2001 to 2002, Blanca Li was the artistic director and choreographer for the Berlin Ballet in Germany. She created a new version of Le Songe du Minotaure for them. In 2003, she choreographed for the opera William Tell in Paris. In 2004, she choreographed for a new Don Giovanni show at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Blanca Li also works in visual arts and multimedia. In 2008, she had her first art exhibition called "I’ll teach you how to dance." In 2009, she created an interactive art project in Madrid. Tens of thousands of people danced in the streets. This event, called "Come dance with me," became a big popular event in Paris in 2011. Over 15,000 people took part.

She has also staged many fashion shows and events. She worked for famous brands like Stella McCartney, Hermès, and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Film and Music Videos

Blanca Li also works in movies, advertising, and music videos. She has been a choreographer for films like French Twist and I'm So Excited. She has also worked on ads for Perrier and Gap. Her choreography can be seen in music videos for Daft Punk ("Around the World"), Blur, Kanye West, and Coldplay.

She wrote and directed her first short film, Angoisse, which won four "Best Film" awards. She has directed many other short films and humorous videos.

Blanca Li's first feature film was The Challenge (Le Défi), a hip hop musical comedy. It was released in May 2002. The film was very popular in France. In 2004, it was chosen for the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

In 2009, she acted in the film Change of Plans. Also in 2009, she directed a short film called For Her. Her second feature film as a director, Step by Step, was a documentary. It showed how her show Corazon loco was created. She also directed TV versions of her shows Elektro Kif and Robot in 2013.

Her film Robot, director's cut premiered in New York City in 2015. Her fifth feature film, Elektro Mathematrix, is a musical based on her show Elektro Kif. It was filmed in a Paris high school in 2014.

Awards and Honors

From 2006 to 2010, Blanca Li was the artistic director of the Andalusian Center of Dance in Seville, Spain. This is a government school for professional dancers. She started a hip hop section and a program for a traditional Spanish dance style called Escuela Bolera.

Blanca Li has received many important awards. In 2014, the French president gave her the Officer of the Légion d'Honneur award. She also received awards from the French Ministry of Culture and the French Ministry of European Affairs.

In Spain, she received the 2009 Gold Medal of Fine Arts from the King of Spain. This award honors major figures in arts and culture. In 2004, she received the Manuel de Falla Prize for her work in modern dance. In 2013, she was included in the popular French dictionary Petit Larousse.

On April 24, 2019, Blanca Li was chosen to join the French Académie des Beaux Arts. She became one of the first permanent members of the new choreography department. On October 15, 2019, she was named artistic director of los Teatros del Canal in Madrid, Spain.

Selected Dance Shows

Here are some of the dance shows created by Blanca Li Dance Company:

• Nana et Lila (1993)
• Central Station (1994)
• Salomé (1995)
• Stress (1997)
• Le Songe du Minotaure (1998)
• Macadam Macadam (1999) - Won "Cristal Globe" for Best Show.
• Zap! Zap! Zap! (1999) - A one-woman show.
• Borderline (2002)
• Al Andalus (2004) - A three-part ballet.
• Alarme (2004)
• Corazon Loco (2007)
• Poeta en Nueva York (2007) - Won "Premios Max de las Artes Escenicas" for Best Choreography.
• Le Jardin des Délices (2009) - Inspired by a painting.
• Elektro Kif (2011) - For "electro" dancers.
• Robot (2013) - Featured dancers and robots.

Selected Films Directed

Fiction Films

• Angoisse (1997) - Short film, won several awards.
• La paella (2000) - Short film.
• Le Défi (Dance Challenge) (2002) - Feature film, a hip hop musical.
• The Chicken (2002) - Short film.
• Home Fitness (2007) - Short film.
• Pour Elle (2009) - Short film.
• Feathers (2014) - Short film.
• Elektro Mathematrix (2015) - Feature musical.
• BlancaLi360 (2015) - Experimental short film for 360° viewing.

Documentaries

• Al Andalús (2006) - Choreography filmed for TV.
• Pas à pas (2009) - About the creation of a show.
• Elektrokif (2013) - Choreography filmed for TV.
• Robot (2013) - Choreography filmed for TV.
• Robot Director's cut version (2014)

See also

In Spanish: Blanca Li para niños