Original title: "The "Golden Magic Wand" Of Beijing Acrobatics"
Twenty years ago, in early 2001, as an outsider who knew very little about acrobatics, I was assigned to the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe, the only national acrobatic group in the country, as the leader. After I arrived at the post, I learned that the brilliant Chinese acrobatic troupe in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China had already fallen into a trough. The first and second national acrobatic competitions were actually not named in the gold list. Although the situation has improved after several years of hard work, there is still a big gap with the fraternal theater group with the leading level of art construction. At that time, the Guangzhou Military Region Soldier Acrobatic Troupe had won three Monaco "Golden Clown" awards representing the highest level of acrobatics and five "Presidential Awards of the French Republic" that could be compared with the Golden Clowns of Monaco. Although the Chinese acrobatic troupe has also begun to win gold and silver in domestic and international competitions, due to the lack of experience in the recognized "world's top competitions", the cast and crew laughed at themselves that "the gold award won by the Chinese acrobatic troupe does not have '24 gold'".
In the face of this situation, I led the team to seriously analyze the reasons and put forward a series of countermeasures: First, we must change the artistic concept and improve the artistic level of the acrobatic program under the premise of maintaining the advantages of the technical skills of the miscellaneous; the second is to lock in the world's top competition venues, and to get the prize, you must take the "24K gold", so as to promote the change of the image and appearance of the miscellaneous; the third is to take magic as a breakthrough and take the road of changing lanes and overtaking.
Our ideas, especially the idea of taking magic as a breakthrough, responded to the acrobatic community's determination to change the situation in which Chinese magic did not have a world-class gold award, and received unanimous approval and strong support from The predecessor of the acrobatic community and former vice chairman of the China Acrobats Association, Li Hu, as well as Bian Faji and Dai Wuqi, who were then vice chairmen of the China Miscellaneous Arts Association and director and deputy director of the Magic Committee, Mi Lu, head of the International Exchange Department of the China Foreign Performance Company, and leaders of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture.
Why choose magic as a breakthrough?
As the saying goes, "A skinny camel is bigger than a horse." "Although the Chinese acrobatic troupe at that time was considered backward, but the strength should not be underestimated, the Chinese acrobatic troupe at this time not only has a deep foundation, there are a large number of highly skilled old artists and excellent teachers, but also has trained a group of very strong and promising actors, many programs have begun to develop strongly, in different arenas to achieve good results." Through analysis, we believe that the main reason for the backwardness of the Chinese acrobatic troupe is that there is a deviation in the understanding of acrobatics, and it has taken a detour in art construction, which does not represent the loss of the strength of the middle and miscellaneous. As long as we change the thinking of art construction, the content and method of training, so that the Chinese acrobatic troupe embarks on the road of both skills and skills, and quickly wins the "24K Gold Award", we are confident. The first question is how to let the Chinese acrobatic troupe quickly get out of the passive situation and quickly restore the leading position of the Chinese acrobatic troupe as the only national acrobatic group and the first state-level art group in New China. This requires not only a "24K gold award", but also a good breakthrough and a series of breakthroughs.
Li Ning and his "Three Changes" let us see the possibility of achieving a breakthrough for the Chinese acrobatic troupe at the fastest speed. As soon as I came to work in the China Acrobatic Troupe, Li Ning wrote to me to reflect on the difficulties encountered in developing the business, and I also took the opportunity to get a general understanding of his business situation. When I proposed to solve the difficulties encountered by Li Ning at the team meeting, I received the unanimous support of the team members. Everyone said in unison, this young man is good and promising. Li Ning's magic show "Three Changes" has just won two gold medals in the "First China Acrobatic Golden Juju Award National Magic Competition" and "Happy Valley International Magic Competition" held in Shenzhen in 2000. The program integrates the face change of Chinese local opera Sichuan opera, the changing of Clothes of Western magic and the change of umbrella with Chinese magic characteristics, instantaneous synchronous transformation, with high technical difficulty, unique and novel performance form, technological innovation, prop innovation, performance form innovation are very high, both the characteristics of Chinese juggling and Western magic techniques, won the recognition of experts in the magic industry. After analysis and demonstration, "Three Changes" has the basis for going to high-level magic venues abroad at the technical level, and the simultaneous transformation of masks, costumes and umbrellas is a must. If we strive to do our best in the performance level and artistic presentation of the program, I believe that we can quickly become a strong contender for the gold medal of the world's high-level magic arena.
Choosing Li Ning and his "Three Changes" as a breakthrough can bring many benefits to the Chinese acrobatic troupe. If you choose an acrobatic program to break through, even if it is successful quickly, the Chinese acrobatic troupe will still follow on the same track. If Li Ning succeeds, it will not only allow the Chinese acrobatic troupe to win a gold medal of "24K gold" and achieve a breakthrough in the top international arena, but also let the Chinese acrobatic troupe occupy the head of one branch in the five acrobatic branches of ground acrobatics, taming animals, magic, funny, and high-altitude acrobatics, laying a solid foundation for the Chinese acrobatic troupe to become the most award-winning acrobatic troupe, forming a trend of lane change and overtaking.
In this way, Li Ning and his "Three Changes" became the first choice for Chinese acrobatic troupes to fight the "24K Gold Award" in the shortest possible time. At the same time, Li Ning and his "Three Changes" have also become the pioneers of Breaking the Ice for Chinese Magic in the highest international arena.
Since then, the Chinese acrobatic troupe has won the Golden Magic Wand Award, the President's Award of the French Republic and the Golden Clown Award in only three years, creating a miracle of acrobatic groups competing in the world's high-level arenas, becoming the acrobatic troupe with the most awards. After that, in a short period of time, he won the President's Award of the French Republic again, won the gold medal of the National Acrobatic Competition, the gold medal of the Wuqiao Acrobatic Festival, the gold medal of the Wuhan Acrobatic Festival, the first prize of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala audience's favorite program and other awards, and quickly became the acrobatic group with the most awards and the most gold medals in the world's highest level, and returned to the ranks of leading groups.
Practice is enough to prove that it was correct and wise to first select and launch Li Ning to attack the "24K Gold" gold award at that time.
Li Ning was born into an acrobatic family in Beijing, and both his father and mother were actors in the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe. Li Ning began practicing acrobatics at the age of 6. In 1990, when Li Ning was 16 years old, his father led the team to go abroad to reduce the number of places, and endured the pain of removing Li Ning from the list of people who went abroad. In order to compensate his son, his father went to the regiment to take two years' leave of absence, sent him to the train to the south, and let him go to Guangxi to learn magic. After putting him on the train, his father said to him, "I can manage it here, and whether you can mix well in the future depends on you." "I only have one train ticket in my hand, and the rest is up to me?" Li Ning nodded to his father with the confusion in his eyes and began his magic life.
His master is Ding Hongjie, although a folk artist, he is a cultured and respected chinese ancient color trick master, who is good at interacting with the audience. The two-year apprenticeship not only allowed Li Ning to learn some magic show performances, but more importantly, li Ning established magic thinking and understood the relationship between magic and the audience. The life of an apprentice is intense and boring. After prostrating his head, Master made a rigorous training plan for him. Practice is the only way for magic to enter the door from outside the door, and without countless exercises, no technique can become the "magic" displayed in front of the audience. That is, the so-called "magic is fake, the magician's technique is real.".
Although the two years were very long, but they passed quickly, Li Ning returned to Beijing with a satisfied look and a vision of his future, and returned to the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe. However, any success will not be easy. At that time, the literary and art group as a whole was in a difficult state, the level of business development was low, the performance lost money, the actors could not pay salaries, and even life could not be guaranteed, and the idea of doing business could not get too much attention, let alone want to get support. With deep reluctance and helplessness, Li Ning chose to "go to the sea" to do business and support himself first. Thinking of the stage, he wholesaled costumes during the day and went to the dance hall at night to do small performances. Either way, the problem of supporting yourself in these two years was solved. In the eyes of most people, Li Ning mixed quite well, but for Li Ning, the dream of magic has always lingered, and his heart is still on the magic stage and the acrobatic troupe.
The opportunity finally came, just when Li Ning left the acrobatic troupe and wandered in the commercial sea for nearly three years, the leader of the regiment also felt that it was too pity to let Li Ning go on like this. Therefore, it was decided to give Li Ning a chance to participate in a magic competition in Guilin, Guangxi, and all the funds were paid by the regiment. This was too good news at the time, he thought of his master, thought of his dream, and it was actually Guilin, which made him think of "Providence". So, without hesitation, he dealt with the business belongings, inventory, and returned to the rehearsal hall. After careful preparation, Li Ning stepped onto the field. He regarded this competition as a consolation to Master's spirit in heaven, not only telling Master That Li Ning was still insisting, but also hoping to repay Master's cultivation and teaching with a gold medal. Because, he has participated in many competitions before, only the gold medal. For this reason, he worked very hard and cared very much about this competition. Reality was often harsh, and he was so disappointed by the results of the game that he didn't even get a bronze medal.
Failed. Everything in the world turned gray in an instant, and all kinds of discussions followed, failing to live up to the support of the regiment, and the regiment could not immediately invest in new projects for him again.
What to do? To stop means to let the failure continue. He knew in his heart that everything really had to be on his own. The reason for the failure of the analysis is that the participating programs are not completely independent intellectual property rights, but have been transformed on other people's programs. "Engage in a brand new show! If I stop, I am not Master's apprentice, I am not Li Ning! Li Ning secretly made up his mind in his heart, and the idea of "Three Changes" gradually formed in Li Ning's mind. He told his parents what he thought. The parents chose to stand behind him, and the group agreed that if the new program was successful, the cost of the investment could be reimbursed, implying that the risk would be borne by Li Ning and his parents.
It's easy to talk about a brand new show. Li Ning and his parents took out all their savings and income, purchased items and tools for making props, and invited magic experts to help, and began the experiment. What awaited them was still failure after failure, seeing the consumption of items used for the experiment batch by batch, the family's savings exhausted, and the experiment that li Ning and his parents continued to support with their meager salary income, no one believed that they could succeed, and the invited experts also left for some reason. Faced with an even more difficult predicament, Li Ning fell into a situation where food and lodging were difficult. What's the problem? At this time, Li Ning can only be like a bullfighter, not killing this "stubborn bison" as if everything about him will cease to exist. In the contemplation of a fight, a familiar scene came into his eyes, and the fence in front of the building enlightened his thinking.
Change research directions and key technologies. Li Ning and his parents invited people and horses, restarted the experiment, and made countless explorations and improvements. But this time, step by step, the light gradually appeared.
In 2000, Li Ning walked into the arena again with "Three Changes", and unlike the last time, he not only won the gold medal of the National Magic Competition of the Chinese Acrobatic Golden Juju Award, but also won the crown of the Happy Valley International Magic Competition.
Thanks to the support of all parties, the preliminary work of the competition went very smoothly and Monte Carlo agreed to our request to participate. This is the first time in the 16 years since the Monte Carlo Magic Competition was held that the Orientals have been given the opportunity to participate, and in the short history of the magic arena being monopolized by Western magicians, the Chinese acrobatic troupe and Li Ning are extremely excited. However, the excitement is followed by a sudden pressure. If the feathers return home, it will be unfavorable for the Chinese acrobatic troupe to turn over, and for Li Ning and Chinese magic, it will be a good opportunity to "correct the name" of Chinese magic. Whether Li Ning will get such an opportunity again, and it is difficult to estimate when Chinese magic will be able to make a comeback. Therefore, "the opportunity must not be lost" has become the common will of the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe and all the experts and leaders who care about supporting this action.
The only way to seize this important and rare opportunity is to do everything that can be done.
We analyzed our program more comprehensively and came up with targeted improvement plans. The technology should be further improved to be foolproof; Artistically, it is necessary to be reborn and refreshed. From the artistic quality of the actors, to the programming, to the props, costumes, music, lighting, and even tools, costumes and props box to reach the best level.
Zhang Heping, then director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture, specifically directed the creation of the program, requiring that the elements of Chinese opera be strengthened from costumes and costumes to props and music.
In order to do the best, we officially invited retired Li Ning's parents to serve as assistants and technical support, invited back experts to serve as instructors to help Li Ning improve technical skills, invited high-level choreographers and composers to rearrange and package the program and help Li Ning to carry out physical training, reprocessed and produced costumes, props and training, performances and competitions were used separately, and tools and air boxes were all replaced with the most advanced and modern styles. Coupled with the previous solution for Li Ning a series of problems such as salary treatment, animal feeding, and business housing, it can be said that at all costs, it can be said that the greatest support guarantee is given in terms of manpower, material and financial resources.
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To preview the full text, please purchase the November 2021 issue of the Beijing Chronicle
Text | Lee Enjie