Reporter Huang Qizhe
"Time Journey 2" has finally unveiled its mystery at Shanghai Circus City recently. After a year and a half of "retreat cultivation" and overcoming the difficulties of transoceanic creation and rehearsal brought by the epidemic, the premiere of "Time journey 2" in Shanghai Circus City brought too much amazement to the audience. A series of world-first and award-winning stunts soared in front of the audience, showing the style of Haipai acrobatics.
Inheriting the positioning of the time and space tour brand "Chinese elements, Sino-foreign cooperation; Chinese story, international expression", "Time and Space Journey 2" is based on innovation, combined with acrobatic performances and cutting-edge stage technology, telling people the beautiful encounters and romantic love stories that occurred in Shanghai, showing Chinese history and culture and modern style through stage art, and painting a new picture of Haipai acrobatics.
Overcome the difficulties of creation and displacement, and show the style of the era of Shanghai acrobatics
When it comes to "Time and Space Journey", the audience is not unfamiliar with this. Since its launch in September 2005, "Time and Space Journey" has performed 5,354 times in the past 15 years, received 5.25 million Chinese and foreign audiences, and earned more than 650 million yuan, making it one of the most shining resident performance brands in Shanghai and even China. On TripAdvisor, the most popular travel website overseas, Journey to Time has been at the top of the "Concerts & Performances" list for many years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15-year-old acrobatic show had to press the "pause button" on the show. However, the acrobat did not stop there, and launched "Time Journey 2" that conforms to the aesthetics of the times, which has long been written on the team's agenda.
In the face of the evergreen tree of performing arts, it is a kind of courage to be willing to abandon achievements and start a new stove. At the beginning of the creation, the creators determined one thing - that is, despite the same name affixed with a "2", "Time Journey 2" is not a simple upgrade, but a new journey. The "Journey of Time and Space 2" invited the French Phoenix Circus Company to co-create with Chinese artists, hoping to empower China's traditional acrobatic culture through world-class artists. But I didn't expect that at the beginning of the creation of the platoon, I was affected by the epidemic. In order to let the audience feel the "aesthetic shock, fashion tradition, hardcore romance", the main creative team had to overcome many difficulties. One of the most difficult is the "cloud rehearsal" through transoceanic video under the barrier of the epidemic.
"It seems that the epidemic window has lengthened our time to prepare for the show, but the stage is the art of the scene, and "Time Journey 2" is not a simple exhibition of acrobatic programs, and it is useless to practice skills alone." After the overseas main creators cross the ocean to connect the guidance, they finally have to face to face to adjust. Yu Yigang, head of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, introduced that it was not until March this year that the actors of the Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe were able to face the French creator. The intensive rehearsal period of the past three months also deducts the quarantine period of overseas creators, which can be described as a tight time. To this end, the team launched the "second plan" - inviting well-known domestic acrobatic directors to further improve. Yu Yigang explains: "On the one hand, it was perfected under the framework of the French team, and on the other hand, it gave "Time Journey 2" a more Chinese presentation."
During the premiere, the team took epidemic prevention and control as the primary premise for doing a good job in all work, increased vigilance, and strictly adhered to the key points of prevention and control. When visitors enter, the health code, mask, and normal body temperature are indispensable. The performance scene has changed from the previous people's voices, and the audience is orderly and quiet. Only when the stunt was unveiled did the audience erupt into warm applause and exclamations. "When I was a child, I watched "Time and Space Journey" and was impressed by the big ball flying car, and now that I have established a family, I take my husband and children to watch it together, and I feel as shocked as when I was a child!" Ms. Ye told reporters. Like her, there are many Shanghai-based parent-child families in the audience, and "Time and Space Journey" has become their common urban memory.
Gathering world firsts and award-winning stunts, innovation is the only way to self-transcendence
More than a decade ago, "Time and Space Journey" was born, which was evaluated by industry experts as the fruit of Shanghai's open, innovative and inclusive urban character. This time, "innovation" is still the concept of the team to the end. As early as three years ago, the Shanghai Circus City, the resident of the "Journey through Time" series, underwent an overhaul and upgrade. In order to lay a solid foundation for "Time Journey 2" from the hardware basis - more than 300 new lighting, sound, multimedia equipment and high-tech performance devices, in the premiere with acrobatic skills, to bring the audience a new audiovisual enjoyment.
In terms of content, according to reports, in this "Time and Space Journey 2", in addition to the retention of the big ball flying car program, almost all the programs are newly created or arranged, and with it, there are also new sets, costumes and music. At the beginning of the second half, the world's first performance combining circus pigeon training and acrobatic hangings impressed the audience. During the performance, the training pigeon and the mid-air actress "dance" harmoniously, sometimes staying on the actress's arm, sometimes stopping at her feet, fully demonstrating agility and femininity.
Don't look at this segment is just a few minutes of performance, actor Meng Lili prepared for this for five years. At that time, she was in her early 30s after giving birth to a child, facing the crossroads of continuing to perform behind the scenes of the transfer, Yu Yigang threw out the idea of "pigeon + hanging" and handed it over to her to develop and explore. In Meng Lili's past acting career, acrobatic skills such as spinning discs, rubber bands, and water meteors are all in question, and she has never been exposed to the circus industry. Interlacing is like a mountain, not to mention leaving the pigeons to stay on the actor's body without feeding. "World First" aroused Meng Lili's desire to challenge. She started her attempts step by step by raising pigeons to build a relationship with them. Needless to say about the difficulty of developing skills, just feeding the pigeons, she has to report to Circus Circus almost every day. Conquering the skill, Meng Lili and her companions spent more than a year, but waiting for the "Time Journey 2" to come out, but it was a long ordeal.
For this "nuclear weapon" in "Time Journey 2", Meng Lili has not appeared on the stage for four years, but she does not dare to relax behind the scenes. This wait, that is, five years, the pigeon has changed generations, and she has also become an "over-aged actor" on the acrobatic stage. But for her, the "Time and Space Journey" brand not only witnessed her growth, but also played a loud stage golden signboard, in order to participate in it, "even if I wait for another five or ten years, I am willing!" It was Riveting this momentum that made a stunning debut at the premiere.
Another performance has won a number of domestic and foreign awards, including the "Oscar of the acrobatic world" Golden Clown Award. On the narrow bar of only twenty centimeters, the actors flipped and leaped, and the difficult thrilling action conquered the international professional judges and made the audience feel that their hearts were racing.
There are many firsts and stunts like this on the stage of Time Journey 2. In order to enrich the form of expression, the main creator opened up the "dimensional wall" of acrobatic performance, and integrated dance, tai chi, extreme sports, and theatrical performances into it, so that traditional acrobatics presented a new form. This kind of integration, while highlighting the shocking sense of difficult acrobatic movements, also adds ornamentality with artistic vocabulary, so that ancient acrobatics can regain their youthful vitality.
"Time and Space Journey 2" is jointly invested by Shanghai Wenguang Performing Arts (Group) Co., Ltd., China Foreign Culture Group Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe Co., Ltd., and operated by Shanghai Time and Space Travel Cultural Development Co., Ltd. After the premiere, "Time Journey 2" will continue to polish and improve in terms of artistic height and cultural depth, adding new prop highlights and technical actions, and constantly bringing surprises to the audience. The creators hope that through excellence, they will become a cultural "hit" that interprets the story of Shanghai, spreads the excitement of Shanghai, and engraves the imprint of Shanghai, helping to enhance the soft power of urban culture and contribute to building Shanghai into a cultural highland with more international influence.
Source: Wen Wei Po