Since its opening on December 22, 2007, the National Centre for the Performing Arts has entered its fourteenth year. On December 22, the National Centre for the Performing Arts celebrated its 14th anniversary.
At 19:00 that night, the lights were on, and the audience at the North Gate ticket office gradually increased, and everyone lined up in an orderly manner, scanning the health code, the itinerary code, the ticket inspection, and the admission, everything was no different from usual, orderly. But seemingly ordinary nights have a lot of unusual experiences. Everyone present had an additional gratitude card from the staff. On the cover, "Accompanied by Artists and Students, Warm Together" expresses gratitude to the audience along the way and hopes for the future to continue the Chinese chapter.
Due to the needs of epidemic prevention and control, the National Centre for the Performing Arts still adopted the real-name system to purchase tickets for visits on the 22nd. Large red lanterns are hung on the North Water Corridor, reflecting the festive atmosphere of this special day.
In public spaces such as the North Underwater Corridor and the Olive Hall, the staff members wore costumes for the National Centre for the Performing Arts' homemade repertoire to interact warmly with the audience. Just like being in the "Wonderful Night of the Theater", the audience met unexpectedly with the "Drama People" such as the classic national opera "Daughter of the Party" in the Version of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the original national dance drama "Heavenly Road" at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the drama "The Count of Monte Cristo" produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, and the original children's opera "Snow White" at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.
Space exhibitions and sculptures strung together in every corner of the theater form the highlight of the audience's tour of the theater. On the east side of the north underwater corridor, "Solidified Melody - Invitation Exhibition of Sculpture Works of the National Centre for the Performing Arts" and "Classical and Fashionable - The Third National Centre for the Performing Arts Stage Costume Exhibition" on the west side attracted many visitors to stop and enjoy. Located on each floor of the opera house's ring corridor, "Between the Square Inches - Selected Exhibition of Stage Art Models of The Original Repertoire of the National Centre for the Performing Arts", "Exhibition of Oil Painting Portraits of Chinese Performing Artists from the National Centre for the Performing Arts", "2021 National Centre for the Performing Arts 10-12", "National Centre for the Performing Arts 2021.12-2022.3 Repertoire Exhibition", "Ice and Snow Fantasia - Winter Olympic Theme Exhibition" located at the entrance of the concert hall, "Spring and Autumn of the Theater Stage - Exhibition of Models of Chinese Ancient Opera Stages in the Collection of the National Centre for the Performing Arts" located on the south side of the first and second floors of the theater theater, On the north side of the second floor of the theater theater, the "Gongle Shengping - Shengping Acting Drama Range Rover" and the sculpture works in the public space of the theater have become the "punch card place" that the audience must visit and visit.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the above exhibitions, the audience can also enjoy two special new exhibitions. Located on the fifth floor of the theater, "The Stage That Never Ends - Exhibition of Artistic Achievements of the National Centre for the Performing Arts" opens a window for the audience to enter the Grand Theater and understand the Grand Theater through comprehensive transformation and technological upgrading. The exhibition is divided into four sections: "The Hall of Elegant Art", "Window to Show the Image of the Nation", "Theater Close to the People and Benefit the People" and "Science and Technology Empowerment Gather in the Cloud", through rich and detailed materials, to show the audience the fruitful artistic achievements achieved in performance operation, repertoire production, art exchange, art popularization education, and innovative art communication methods in the past 14 years since the establishment of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. The master wall composed of photos of more than 700 masters in the field of stage performance, and the time and space corridor spliced together by stills of many plays have become the new "Internet celebrity punch card". In particular, it is worth mentioning that the exhibition also integrates a new media interactive experience, through the mobile phone can understand the rich performance content outside the exhibition; immersive experience of the opera house, explore the secrets behind the stage; you can also experience the 8K HD opera movies and online concert highlights in the "Cloud Theater" in the exhibition hall. Diversified content and carefully planned exhibition sets allow the audience to fully experience the artistic achievements of the NCPA in the past 14 years.
Located on the B1 floor of the concert hall, the newly built "Curtain Light - National Centre for the Performing Arts Stage Art Photography Exhibition" has carefully selected more than 100 works from the millions of photographic works taken by the professional photography team of the theater in the past 14 years, and through the ingenious design display and unique space presentation, the audience can feel the architectural beauty of the theater, the beauty of stage art and the beauty of artistic humanities from the professional perspective of photography art, and the audience can understand the diversified, three-dimensional and vivid National Centre for the Performing Arts from another side in the light and shadow belt.
At 19:30 that night, the opera film "Visitors on the Iceberg" of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the concert of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra of "Farewell to the Old and welcoming the new", the original contemporary dance drama "Xian Xinghai" jointly produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Ningbo Performing Arts Group, and the drama "Doll's House" produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts were staged in the opera house, concert hall, drama theater and small theater respectively, no matter which theater they entered, the audience could feel the unique charm of art.
Not only are offline performances and activities rich and colorful, the National Centre for the Performing Arts also sends artistic greetings to audiences who cannot attend the theater through special online programs. In the public space of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, the hosts Chun Ni and Wu Yewei incarnated as "art experience officers" to take everyone to the "cloud" end to tour the grand theater: enjoy the space-themed art salon activity folk music quartet located in front of the West Café, taste the hand-brewed coffee specially adjusted by the "AI Coffee Master - Great White" at the East Café, visit the Cultural and Creative Souvenir Shop of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, visit the "Ice and Snow Fantasia - Winter Olympics Theme Exhibition", and the art experience officers take the audience to "cloud" one by one to "punch in" the internet celebrity locations of the theater.
In the newly opened "Never Ending Stage - Exhibition of Artistic Achievements of the National Centre for the Performing Arts", the art experience officer Chunni met the "mysterious guests" Pu Cunxin and Liao Changyong, and chatted with the two artists about the artistic production of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. Another art experience officer, Wu Yewei, came backstage to explore the original contemporary dance drama "Xian Xinghai" and the National Centre for the Performing Arts Jointly produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts and the Drama "Doll's House" produced by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, listening to the main creators and main actors tell the stories behind the repertoire. Audiences can also enjoy two wonderful performances in the clouds: "The Song Years: Concert of Classic Works of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Choir" and "Lu Jia, Rao Hao and the Orchestra concert of the National Centre for the Performing Arts". Audiences can not only enjoy well-known choral works such as "Where Has Time Gone", "Legend", "Childhood", as well as Classics such as Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor and Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "The New World".
Gong Jicheng, vice president of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, said, "Adhering to the principle of being close to the people, simple, warm and wonderful, the series of performances and activities for the 14th anniversary of the establishment of the National Centre for the Performing Arts have been brilliantly presented online and offline, presenting an unusual art viewing experience for everyone on ordinary days, so that everyone can feel the enthusiasm of the Grand Theatre and spend a pleasant evening with everyone." "Although affected by the epidemic, in 2021, the National Centre for the Performing Arts staged more than 570 commercial performances, benefiting more than 460,000 audiences, holding nearly 580 performances and activities for various art popularizations, and planning 33 exhibitions. In terms of artistic production, the National Centre for the Performing Arts has launched a total of 4 newly produced plays and rehearsed 10 plays. In terms of artistic exchanges, the Council of the World Theatre Alliance, the World Symphony Beijing Forum and the Taihu International Forum on Choreography have been successfully held, which has built an important platform for exchanges and mutual learning between performing arts institutions at home and abroad. More than 100 online performances have been launched, benefiting more than 3 billion viewers. In 2022, the National Centre for the Performing Arts will uphold the new model of "online and offline" dual-track operation and performance, carefully do a good job in the planning of various theme art festival section performances and series of popularization activities offline, and continue to launch excellent online art products online.
Courtesy photo/National Centre for the Performing Arts