This may be where the dream began, I dreamed that one day I could stand on this gorgeous stage, and since then I have formed an indissoluble relationship with art.
Narrator: Weng Xiaowei
Finishing: Song Mei
"Teacher Song, I was busy doing drama tours for the children recently, but I didn't expect that I could also use the 'double subtraction' east wind to contribute to the inheritance of drama and the development of national essence." I dialed the phone, but was told by Weng Xiaowei that we could not meet in the near future. However, thinking of Weng Xiaowei's love for drama and hearing that he is still busy with the cause he loves, I am sincerely happy for him.
Weng Xiaowei gave a guided lecture on opera for the children
I remember when I was a child, I went to the Huangpu Theater with my elders for the first time to watch the Yue opera "Liang Zhu". From the moment I stepped into the theater, I felt as if I had entered a sacred hall: colorful lights, beautiful scenes, actors in costumes, and long-lasting applause all attracted and shocked me.
An actor's turn is a story, and a glance is a deep affection. At that time, although I could not fully understand the unforgettable feelings of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Yue Opera, this national essence left a deep and very beautiful memory in my mind.
As a result, I have formed an indissoluble relationship with art. Huangpu Theater has since become the place where my dream began, dreaming that one day, I can have the same gorgeous stage.
When I was thirteen years old, by chance, I learned that the Shanghai Oriental Bomb Critics Group was recruiting students from the society. The arts should all be the same, I did not hesitate to sign up, and after several examinations, I successfully became a student with the group.
Remember, although we are all art whites, we are taught by respected old artists. We were lucky. Fingering, music score, table, ventriloquism, playing and singing, every basic skill, the old artists have given careful guidance. In class, we absorb like a sponge encountering water, learn with our hearts, and write with a pen. The small hard copy is full of notes, but these are only the tip of the iceberg in what I have learned, more knowledge and skills, and the love and inheritance of the old artists for the evaluation, I have engraved in my heart.
Although the days of practicing the piano, practicing the voice, practicing white, playing roles, and practicing basic skills are boring, because I have had the dream of standing on the stage of the drama since I was a child, every time the group praises me for progress, I will practice more energetically. Because I dreamed that one day I would be like the old artists, personally experience the joy and satisfaction of playing the role, and show the classic characters in front of the audience with ease and ease on stage.
Weng Xiaowei performed stills at the Huangpu Theater
However, when I grew up, my career and my stage dreams drifted away. Under a variety of factors, I began to study accounting, becoming an accountant, economist, statistician, becoming one of the few career choices in front of me. Accounting and drama become two labels on the same person, Teacher Song, is this picture a little hard to imagine? I felt the same way at the time, the stage dream was getting farther and farther away from me, and I began to get confused at that time.
Fortunately, I was stubborn about the art anomaly at that time, and since I could not continue to study the evaluation bomb, I turned to the pen and ink. I started from horizontal, vertical, skimming, and twisting, and used calligraphy to express my insistence on artistic dreams. "Art is all connected!" I started learning to rate bombs because of this sentence before, and this time I used this sentence to motivate myself to cultivate myself in the days of waiting.
Sure enough, kung fu paid off, and luckily, I waited again for an encounter with art. In April 2011, after a classmate meeting, I hit it off with a few comedy-loving classmates and friends and co-founded our own "Renaissance Drama Salon".
Although more than 10 years have passed, I still remember that the salon event site was located on the idyllic Revival Road. Most weekend afternoons, we would get together in that deep French bungalow courtyard. Warm sunlight, through the tall plane trees, sprinkled on the bluestone floor of the courtyard. We put on costumes and perform a classic life and death entanglement for thousands of years in the dappled light and shadow. A song is sung, a little applause, but it is refreshing. After that, more and more old friends and new friends who love art join our drama salon. With the encouragement of my friends, I not only revived my dream of stage, but also set up my own "Caotai Team" two years later, and named it "Xiaoyun Culture and Maple Tree Art Exchange Center" with my heart.
In the park, Weng Xiaowei put on makeup for his friends who love theater
Dreams can come true!
On July 6, 2015, at the Pioneer Theater of Shanghai Yihai Theater, Xiaoyun Culture and Fengqiao Art Exchange Center performed a performance for the second anniversary of its establishment. The moment I walked into the theater, I was amazed to see how much it looked like the temple I had been to as a child! The melodious melody, the elegant dance, and the dazzling beams of lights, the gorgeous lines... I walked into the auditorium and gently stroked the rows of audience seats, and the theater was filled with the fragrance of oil paint, everything was so familiar, so kind.
After the performance, my friends came on stage and stuffed bouquets of flowers into my arms, and everyone in the audience stood up, the applause seemed to last for centuries, and the moment the curtain fell slowly, I finally couldn't help but cry, this moment I really waited too long and too long.
Every time the curtain came to an end, Weng Xiaowei was full of excitement
On the road to realizing his dreams, Weng Xiaowei's fellow travelers are more and more
Since then, my friends and I have been on the Yihai Theater, Huangpu Theater, Tiantou Yifu Stage, Lyceum Theater several times a year... Whether it is a whole drama, or a variety show, one scene after another, I am very sincere, fully prepared, and fully interpreted. Because for me, this is a dream that has come true again and again, and now, there are so many partners with me, happily fulfilling our common stage dream.
Reporter / Song Mei
Edited by / Huang Qianwen
Image / Courtesy of the interviewee
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