Carry forward the national culture and highlight the Chinese style (adhere to the "two innovations" to write epic poems)

Source: People's Daily

From top to bottom, the pictures are the national dance drama "Li Bai", the re-typeset national opera "Little Erhei Marriage", "Sister Jiang", and the stills of the national dance drama "Confucius". Photo by Liu Haidong: Zhao Kairu

Core reading

From promoting the nationalization and localization of opera and dance dramas to exploring its modern and contemporary aesthetic styles, no matter how the expression methods are iterated and how the aesthetic logic changes, the self-contained cultural concept and the Chinese spirit of ancient and modern times are eternal and unchanging

In recent years, the "National Arts Fund" and "Chinese National Opera Inheritance and Development Project" have been implemented in depth, and the creative concepts of national opera and dance drama have been continuously enriched, and the direction of innovation has become increasingly diversified, forming a creative situation in which a hundred flowers bloom.

It is worth noting that in recent years, the Chinese Opera and Dance Theater, which has performed an average of more than 300 performances per year, has insisted on inheriting and innovating classic national operas, and the repertoire such as "White Haired Girl" and "Sister Jiang" has received enthusiastic responses, and at the same time, more than 5 newly created plays have been launched every year, and the wonderful paragraphs of some original works have hundreds of millions of online hits... This state-level art academy with profound creative accumulation insists on promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, creates a number of national operas and national dance dramas, tells Chinese stories well on the world stage, carries forward national culture, highlights Chinese style, and achieves a double harvest of social and economic benefits.

Adhere to the nationality, sincerely express the Chinese life scene and emotional experience

Vividly presenting the history and reality that Chinese places and creating, sincerely expressing the emotional experience and spiritual world of Chinese, and observing real life with the spirit of realism and romantic feelings, is the foundation of national opera and dance drama.

From the first Chinese national opera "White Haired Girl", the first Chinese national comedy opera "Little Two Black Marriage" to today's national opera "Liu Sanjie", "Looking Forward to Your Return", the national dance drama "Heroes and Children", "Xiushui Yangyang", from the first Chinese national dance drama "Baolian Lantern" to today's national dance drama "Confucius", "Zhao Orphan", "Zhaojun Out of the Plug", "Li Bai"... Combing through the fine works of the Chinese Opera and Dance Theater, it is not difficult to find two clear creative lines of inheriting revolutionary culture and carrying forward china's excellent traditional culture.

As soon as they were born, national opera and dance drama had a distinct national character, and their development and prosperity were closely linked to the magnificent revolutionary history, the arduous history of struggle, and the heroic history of the Chinese nation. One red classic, seeking innovation in inheritance, and improving in innovation. "When I was creating, I hoped to add a three-string to some specific emotions, and I could have 20 erhu sounds and a very strong lute wheel finger playing in unison!" The composition of the national opera "Sister Jiang" and the wish of 93-year-old Jiang Chunyang were realized in the 2021 re-layout of "Sister Jiang". As Tao Cheng, director of the China Opera and Dance Theatre, said, the rearrangement is a tribute to the classics, to the magnificent revolutionary history, and also to activate the innate red gene in the blood of the young generation with innovative expressions that conform to the contemporary era, so that the red classics will always remain young.

The era of struggle and the fiery life have provided a broad space for the creation of red-themed dramas. Creators pay more attention to standing in today's dimension of the times, on the basis of grasping the law of historical development, find ways to communicate and interact, express and express their intentions, so that the works can truly play the function of the art medium. The interactive activity of "I want to say to the hero" carried out by the dance drama "Heroes and Children", the "post-90s" audience messages were covered with sticker walls; when the opera "Sister Jiang" was rehearsed, college students were invited into the rehearsal hall to feel the power of faith; the young audience at the performance of the opera "Zhang Fuqing" was moved to tears... The red theme is "circle powder" the young generation.

"It is advisable to look at the present and learn from the past, and there is no past that is not the present." The creation of national opera and dance drama not only has the background of contemporary life, but also has the bloodline of cultural traditions. From promoting the nationalization and localization of opera and dance dramas to exploring its modern and contemporary aesthetic styles, no matter how the expression methods are iterated and how the aesthetic logic changes, the self-contained cultural concept and the Chinese spirit of ancient and modern times are eternal and unchanging. Shaping historical figures with works of art conveys the beautiful artistic feelings and fashion of the times on the outside, and the contemporary values of the national spirit and the excellent traditional Chinese culture are nurtured on the inside. In the national dance drama "Li Bai", which integrates poetry and dance, Li Bai's life situation is connected to the things behind the poem; in the national dance drama "Zhaojun Out of the Plug" and "Camel Road" that fit the theme of "Belt and Road", the audience has a strong sense of home and country.

It condenses the literary and artistic masterpieces of Chinese value pursuit and ideals and beliefs, and shows the world the grand atmosphere and temperament of the Chinese nation. Take the national dance drama "Confucius" as an example, which has been performed in more than 30 countries and regions nearly 400 times since its inception, showing the rich connotation of the ideas of "benevolence" and "etiquette" with dance drama vocabulary. Special conductor Tang Muhai recalled the performance scene of the play in 2019 at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is still excited: "At the end of the performance, the audience behind me cheered heartily. That empathy brought me to tears several times. ”

Chinese national opera and dance drama, which has only a history of development for a few decades, has accumulated in the nourishment of Chinese cultural soil and gradually formed its own style, which not only realizes the growth of the number of works, but also sets a benchmark for artistic quality.

Enhance the appeal and combine the Chinese aesthetic spirit with the contemporary aesthetic pursuit

"Excellent stage works should be 'high' and 'harmonious', and the works should lead the public's aesthetics, and they must also be loved and understood by the public." Artists must not substitute their own judgments for audience reputation. Tao Cheng believes that national opera and dance dramas should use the artistic means created in practice to express life, combine the Chinese aesthetic spirit with contemporary aesthetic pursuits, and inherit and carry forward the national folk literature and art tradition.

One of the important lessons of the great prosperity of national opera is to learn from traditional opera and folk music. The musical composition of the opera "Sister Jiang" lasted nearly 1 year, drawing nutrients from Sichuan opera, Yue opera, Shanghai opera and rap music, Sichuan Yangqin and Qingyin, etc., and the song "Red Meizan" alone changed its draft for 8 times. Qiao Peijuan, the first actor of Xiaoqin in the opera "Little Two Black Marriage", believes that "it is necessary to strengthen the self-cultivation of actors, learn Chinese opera and folk songs, and the creative team must learn, so that they can produce good works." As Huang Qishi, former vice president and screenwriter of the China Opera and Dance Theatre, said, creators should not only learn the creative experience of Chinese national opera, opera and Western opera, but also make great efforts to innovate and express themselves and create works that highlight Chinese style and Chinese style.

The unswerving sense of fine products, the creative concept of shouzheng innovation, and the audience-oriented creative orientation are the beneficial experiences of the practice of China Opera and Dance Theatre. His creative innovation shows that the vitality of the work comes from the unity of thought, artistry and ornamentation.

Pay attention to polishing colorful passages, and consciously create "memory points" in the works. "North Wind Blowing" in "White-Haired Girl", "Red Meizan" in "Sister Jiang", "Cai Wei" in Confucius, "Shujian" Dance Passage... Most of the excellent works have classic fragments that are widely recited. This requires the creator to strive for excellence, so that dance and music complement each other. For example, the live accompaniment of the symphony made the dance drama "Confucius" mature in musical art. According to the characteristics of different dance sections, pipa, bamboo flute, erhu and percussion of different timbres were added, etc. In order to reproduce the music of the Spring and Autumn Period "Golden Sound and Jade Zhen", the composer used instruments such as zhong zhen, qinse, flute and other instruments to present, integrating the ancient music into modern harmony, the melody was remembered, the image was remembered, and the dance section was left.

Pay attention to refining poetic imagery, and enhance the appeal with artistic images full of personality. At the end of the rehearsal opera "Sister Jiang", Sister Jiang Dayi walked to the execution ground in awe, and in the grand and exciting chorus of "Red Meizan", a large area of plum blossoms "grew" from the tall stone wall to form a poetic "plum blossom wall". The dance drama "Li Bai" uses the image of the moon to present the poet's psychology, showing Li Bai's spiritual world through looking at the moon, asking the moon, facing the moon, and chasing the moon, and using the moon to complete the shape, freehand and convey the spirit of Li Bai's life trajectory. From the female perspective of Wang Huiwu, the dance drama "Xiushui Yangyang" cuts into the major historical event of the CPC's great congress, using psychological narrative, spatial narrative and other creative techniques, so that the audience can see the weather of the times, the imagery of the dance drama and the mental image of the characters from the dance drama.

Pay attention to the innovation of stage vocabulary, and guide the creation with aesthetics that conform to modern audiences. On the new stage of the circular LED screen of the re-arranged national opera "Little Two Black Marriage", the blue sky and white clouds, the majestic distant mountains, the real flowing babbling brook, the cyan imitation stone arch bridge, and the Taihang village with good scenery in Shanxi are presented in front of the eyes, and Xiao Qin's aria "sparkling water blue and bright sky" is vividly expressed. From the spatial stage narrative composed of the font of the dance drama "The Orphan of Zhao", to the imagery of the landscape in the poem of the dance drama "Li Bai" to the symbolization of the journey of the dance drama "Zhaojun Out of the Plug"... Consciously construct contemporary audiovisual works, transform contemporary aesthetics in comprehensive form, and further open up creative horizons and cross-border dimensions.

From pioneering to innovation, from rehearsal to new creation, the development of Chinese national opera and dance drama art depends on generations of artistic workers passing on the torch and continuing to create. Today, a large number of young and middle-aged literary and art workers are in awe, inheritance and innovation, and are striving along the creative road of the older generation of artists. The beautiful scenery should be at the peak of the majestic peak. (Wang Yan)

People's Daily (20th edition, January 13, 2022)