Liu Yang

Central South University, China

Title: Embodied Heritage: Women’s Role in the Transmission of Intangible Dance Traditions

---

Biography

Yang Liu is a scholar of dance and cultural studies with dual doctoral backgrounds in Dance Studies and Social and Behavioural Sciences, and currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Philosophy at Central South University, China. She engages in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research, focusing on traditional dance, women heritage bearers, embodiment, and intangible cultural heritage. With extensive fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia, her work explores how women play a pivotal role in safeguarding dance heritage and shaping cultural identity. She has published more than thirty articles in international and national journals, including SSCI, AHCI, and leading Chinese journals, and authored two monographs: A Study on the Integrated Development of Traditional Folk Dance and Culture and Cultural Expressions of Traditional Dances in Southeast Asia. She also serves on editorial boards and is an active member of several international academic associations, advancing dialogue across disciplines and cultures.

Abstract

This paper explores the role of women in the transmission of intangible dance traditions through a comparative study of the Xiangxi Miao Drum Dance in China and the Balinese Legong in Indonesia. Both traditions highlight women’s embodied practices as crucial carriers of cultural memory, ritual meaning, and aesthetic continuity. Based on ethnographic research, this study demonstrates how women dancers preserve and reinterpret heritage by engaging in ritual performances, intergenerational teaching, and stage adaptations. The analysis emphasizes women not only as performers but also as cultural agents who negotiate between sacred rituals, community identity, and modern heritage frameworks. By integrating perspectives from feminist theory, embodiment, and intangible cultural heritage studies, this paper argues that women’s bodies serve as dynamic sites where memory, identity, and creativity converge. The comparison of Miao Drum Dance and Legong illustrates the shared challenges and possibilities of safeguarding dance heritage in the face of modernization and tourism, while underscoring women’s vital role in sustaining and reconfiguring cultural traditions.