The Physical Guerrillas

The Physical Guerrillas (Lingyun Yan Physical Guerrilla Troupe) is an independent performance and film laboratory based in Jinan, founded by artist, experimental theatre and film director, and body-based educator Li Ning. Rooted in visual art, sculpture, and physical theatre, the studio develops long-term research across stage works, art films, site-specific interventions, and community projects, treating space itself as a collaborator rather than a neutral backdrop. Over the past decades, the group has toured internationally to festivals in Amsterdam, Avignon, Aurillac, Tokyo, New York, Brussels and beyond, while also initiating rural and factory-based festivals in Shandong that weave contemporary art into everyday life. Alongside creation, the studio runs workshops and teaching programs such as “Body Sketching and Re-Creation,” building a bridge between non-professionals and contemporary performance, and pursuing Li Ning’s core ideal: to allow theatre to once again become a shared form of public life.