Text/Chang Ruifang Photo/Liu Haidong
Youth must be early, how can you grow a teenager. Youth is a kind of courage to scream, dare to explore, dare to inspire and dare to fly, such as praising the father day by day, like grass trying to grow, like seagulls fighting the wind and waves. On the last night of the end of 2021, with a cold and light snow, the Hunan Provincial Song and Dance Theater presented a large-scale national dance drama "Blood as a Song" to the audience at the Hunan Grand Theater, which added a strong touch to the drama stage of the 7th Hunan Provincial Arts Festival. During the more than two hours of watching the play, my mood was constantly stirred up with the passionate dance skills of the actors. When the curtain music echoed in the theater, the flushed-cheeked audience lingered, some heading straight in the direction of the stage, some holding up their mobile phones to take pictures, and some shouting and making noise to express their excited words. I came out of the theater, still mesmerized in the heat of thoughts, and heard the passionate footsteps around me, and the noisy sound of harvest swaying in the wilderness was constantly repeated with a blunt-angled scythe, "Seeing the blood boiling," "I am more patriotic!" "This play is very good, I'm a lot older, I'm still very excited..." In the theater, just less than five minutes ago, I gave Tian Han's praiseworthy words, "You are so great," and unreservedly gave Yang Xia, who was a slender family member at the Provincial Song and Dance Academy, for this spiritual feast.
I think every wave has a reason to chase!
Youth dialogue, with stirring feelings to write the responsibility of cultural people
Whether distant or neighborly, youth will not be forgotten. The hunan provincial song and dance theater's large-scale national dance drama "Blood As a Song" was originally intended to write about Tian Han, a native of Changsha County, Hunan Province, and then wrote the birth of the national anthem, telling the life choices and spiritual pursuits of the generation of talented artists of the generation of enthusiastic young people Tian Han, Nie Er and An E at a time of national crisis, who wrote the value of their lives with the tip of the pen in their hands and showed the awakening of national consciousness with passionate actions.
In 1926, Tian Han founded the Nanguo Film and Drama Society in Shanghai, promoted the new drama movement with a wild spirit, and created some influential works of art, during which Tian Han met An'e and Nie Er, they met and knew each other, full of passion, after the "Nine-One-Eight" Incident and the "One-Two-Eight" Incident, Tian Han resolutely joined the Communist Party of China. Using literature and art to speak out for the toiling masses and the anti-Japanese salvation, he finally created the "March of the Volunteer Army" (that is, the current national anthem), which aroused people who did not want to be slaves, fought for the independence, freedom and liberation of the country and the nation, and left a classic song in the history of music that will never fade.
"Sharper than the sword is the tip of the righteous pen, and more fierce than the cannon fire is the melody of blood." The screenwriter cleverly uses a series of works created by Tian Han to connect and construct a line of action, telling a relatively complete dramatic story, which not only sculpts the distinct personality of the characters, but also expresses the emotions of the characters, writes about the cultural warriors who take the pen as a knife, around the background of the era created by the song "Volunteer March", strives for the authenticity and accuracy of the story, and uses passionate and fashionable modern dance to look back at the actions of the new youth in the 1930s, aiming to continue the patriotic feelings of the Chinese people.
"March of the Volunteer Army" is composed by Tian Han and composed by Nie Er, composed in 1935, and is the theme song in the movie "Children of the Storm". Character setting is the most critical first step in a dramatic story. An'e is a friend of Tian Han and Nie Er, and she enters their lives with poetry creation, forming an iron triangle relationship between Tian Han, Nie Er and An E, but in the play she intervenes as a journalist, and the topic of "Carmen" triggers the discussion of art, so Tian Han and An E become confidants. Capturing Tian Han's works in the complicated details of life to promote their relationship is simple and concise, which is very suitable for the expression of dance dramas. The character of the little newsboy is obviously fictional, the screenwriter did not give her a name, with the representative symbol of "little newsboy", but it is indispensable in the play, she is lively and cute, full of movement, especially in order to give Tian Han and Nie Er a message, as a bait, to lead the agent, shot by the agent, a four-person dance with memories as the heart, lingering and lyrical, pushing the plot to a small climax. Although the play of the tabloid is not mainstream, it enriches the flesh and bones of the play, highlighting the fact that the play is king with the delicate presentation of details, leaving a deep impression on the audience. From the perspective of the drama industry, the ugly line bao counselor, he is the identity of the reactionary authorities of the literary and art supervision official, designed as the antithesis of the Tian Han, is the representative of the dark forces, his appearance gives the audience a sense of hypocrisy, terror and depression, this character is also the core of the conflict throughout the drama, promoting the plot forward.
The main characters of the whole play are set up in a total of five people, the relationship between the characters is concise and powerful, the motivation, action line, drama conflict, suspense, entanglement, and transition carried by the characters in the play are clear and coherent, forming a plot narrative and emotional narrative relationship, which contrasts with each other and links with each other, that is, it is longer than lyrical, and it is good at narrative, giving a delicate description of the responsibility of cultural people in the transition period of Chinese society in the twentieth century, the awakening of young people, and the character characteristics of Xiang people "dare to be the first in the world", giving a delicate description of the individual's sense of responsibility and mission for the rise and fall of the country and the rise and fall of the nation. The outstanding collectivist and patriotic spirit of the group, as well as the deep and stirring spirit of history and the national soul, and the indomitable soul in the blood of the Chinese nation are vividly expressed.
Schiller once pointed out that the basic forms of all art are determined by their purpose of being "appreciated." Stories are metaphors of life, and they lead us to see the essence through phenomena. The significance of the dance drama "Blood as a Song" advances with a soaring spirit and enlightens the audience to empathize, and its significance actually exceeds the threshold of the dance drama theme itself, making it a broader cultural map symbol, observing people's hearts and realms.
Dancing Wildly: Using body language to stir up youth
Dance is one of the oldest theatrical art forms. The lights turn on, and the gray and dark background of the vertical tilt of the stage tilts down, giving people a sense of oppression, as if to bring the audience into the dim old China of the early last century. On the upper right side of the stage, the bright yellow lights, a young man in the high-rise attic, is sometimes dancing under the lamp, sometimes writing a book, and from time to time in the mirror-frame performance area, he performs his character characteristics with a concise but rigid and soft opera program... In the sound of the transformation of Xiang opera music, the background curtain on the side, the electronic projection played a large oblique font: "Fuhu Night", "Death of Famous Worries" and "Carmen" were superimposed, and the director used the stage loft, the regional cultural characteristics of the song, the opera dance, plus the modern electronic technology display screen to inform the audience of the three elements of the drama time, place, characters, simple and clear, quickly let the audience into the development of the plot. There are no sub-scenes of the whole play, only the upper and lower screens. Here, the choreographer does not place the protagonist in the middle of the stage or in the corner of the front desk, but the drama character is placed behind the stage, integrated with the background, which is obviously the prologue: the attic, the music, the characters, the dance, the Xiangren Tian Han in Shanghai.
Tian Han is known as the future Ibsen of China, one of the three founders of modern Chinese drama, a lifetime of excellent plays are quite abundant, dance drama choreographers borrow the film contemporary avant-garde techniques to express, the play set layer structure two lines of time and space intersection techniques to expand the plot structure, and give more overlapping meanings. Take the opening dance "Carmen" as an example: one is to borrow the play created by the dramatist to introduce the spatial narrative to show the dramatist Tian Han written in the play; the second is already the success of the performance of the play to explain the beginning time of the narrative of the play; the third is the time and space interlacing of the attic on the side of the stage and the people in the play pushing props to enter, and the blank space in the middle gives the stage sufficient freehand space; the fourth is the time-space cross-performance in the parallel space-time structure: the wandering audience seats are both positive and negative, on the one hand, the sincere admiration of an enthusiastic audience such as An'e. On the other hand, the false applause after Counselor Bao's cold eyes, and the passionate dance of the dancers in red, the three alternately interpreted, and the psychological characteristics of the characters appeared; fifth, the dramatic scene was used to inform the audience, at this time Tian Han already had a certain degree of popularity in society, and thus triggered the attention and intervention of the cultural official Bao Counselor and the leftist An'e, revealing the beginning of the contradiction and conflict of the drama; sixth, the time and space are now presented: the gypsy girl in a red long dress twists vigorously with the music, and the dance posture is enthusiastic and fierce. Full of resistance, it not only realizes the aesthetic value of the dance itself, but also enriches the perspective element of the stage space; the seventh is the action extension line of the plot: An'e, who enters the theater to watch the play "Carmen", walks down the audience to shoot stills. In this play, An'e intervened as an admirer of Tian Han, and Tian Han's six-act play "Carmen" adapted from the novel was banned after its premiere, and soon after, the Namguksha was also shut down by the authorities. Obviously, the opening dance of this scene is informative and clear, guiding the audience to relive the history of humiliation and resistance with the dancers, and enter the era when Tian Han and An E met and composed the national anthem.
Immediately after tian Han and An E's "double dance" met by stills, from mutual temptation, from a desk virtual specific studio environment to a dance under the street lights on the Bund in Shanghai, the two from common topics, pursuits as confidants, and then to empathetic love: the male and female principal dance, romantic and lyrical, free and entangled, both common lifting dynamics, but also arbitrary chase... The audience can see: the light step man dance like a butterfly, soaring high like a white cloud jade belt, the lover and the beloved, rejoicing, the soul flying, and all things are one, dancing into a beautiful picture.
Social customs paint the dance scene, another heavyweight in the play composer Nie Er appears, the character modeling uses the virtual technique of drama, he holds the strings in one hand, while curiously walking around, while swinging and playing, showing off his musical talents. Nie Er is a native of Yunnan, thin and small, he holds a bow string in one hand, which is the iconic symbolic feature of the play, and Tian Han's sex and depth are different, Nie Er's personality is sunny, frank, intelligent and humorous, and he walks cheerfully and jumps while playing the strings from time to time to enter the audience's vision.
The "9.18" incident is one of the highlights of the whole play, and it is also the turning point of the whole play. The background projection of the stage is typed: "September 18 Incident" a few big words, the stage snowflakes are flying messily, was there heavy snow in the northeast at that time? ignorance. However, the flying snowflakes very vividly expressed the psychological situation and regional characteristics of people at that time. The group dance shows the tragic picture of people all over the northeast being ravaged under the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders. In terms of regional cultural characteristics, the choreographer not only focuses on the environment and clothing, but also borrows the "flower" hand posture in the "Northeast Yang Song" and the musical melody to highlight the regional attributes in the choreography.
The scene dance in the Shanghai lane is mainly written about Nie Er and the little newsboy. Between the small pavilions in the attic, the exaggerated charter wife, with the help of a door (the virtual nature of traditional drama in the mainland), first Nie Er played the piano because of the composition, and the landlord quarreled with each other, and the tabloid boy came to deliver the newspaper, and in this scene, from one-on-one lifting of the bar, it became a two-on-one battle of wits and small pranks, and performed a witty little comedy. This scene of the sitcom seems to be idle writing, but in fact, it renders the relationship between Nie Er and the tabloid from unfamiliar to familiar and happy, laying the groundwork for the sacrifice of the tabloid's later newspaper, constituting a progressive relationship of the characters.
"Suzhou Commentary" Green Robe Woman embraces the group dance of the pipa, in the tense plot advancement, not only plays a role in relaxation, but also gives the audience a tense perspective nerve to hand over a cup of cool water-like aesthetic feast, in terms of performance techniques, not to mention that it is not the old Shanghai "Businesswoman does not know the hatred of the country, across the river singing backyard flowers." "The true portrayal of drunken dreams and death not only expresses the general situation of old China at that time, but also metaphorically describes the sense of distress of traditional literati. The projection background skimmed over the aircraft cannons, the Japanese attack on Shanghai Zhabei "January 28 Incident", shattered the peaceful life of everyone, scattered citizens, dancing girls hit by stray bullets and other dynamic and static stage scenes.
Those who have established great things in the past not only have supernatural talents, but also have the indomitable will. The second half of the play is staged from the play of Tian Han Nie'er's newly created opera "The Storm of the Yangtze River": the plot of the rear area on the side of the stage gate is interpreted, the "1.28" incident of the Yangtze River Wharf fell into the hands of the enemy, the dock workers bent their backs, heavy steps, the dance of unloading goods from Japanese ships, the dock workers found that the unloaded goods were the arms used by the Japanese Kou to slaughter Chinese, so they refused to unload and resisted. As a realistic narrative of "drama within a play", in the face of the guns and cannons of the Japanese Kou, the crowd was indignant, and the people consciously took up daggers, guns, iron rakes, iron shovels, iron pickaxes, axes, machetes, and held high torches... The enthusiastic young people Tian Han and Nie Er witnessed all this, and ideologically they had a conscious class consciousness and strong national feelings, threw themselves into the rolling mass movement, participated in the torrent of the masses "boycotting Japanese goods", drummed and shouted for the people, and the little newsboy was even more excited in it...
After the little newsboy is killed by the agents to cover Tian Han and Nie Er, a "four-person dance" with memories is the climax of the emotional rendering in the play, the lively and naughty little newsboy, the emotional interaction between Nie Er and the little newsboy, Tian Han's doting action of touching the top of the little newsboy's head, An'e's encouragement to the little newsboy, the counter-dance of the little newsboy slowly turning backwards and leaving, taking the passage of time as the axis, step by step the separation of life and death, step by step tugging at the hearts of Nie Er, Tian Han, and An'e, and also involves the tear glands of the audience.
Tian Han was arrested, and at the end of Tian Han's solo dance "get up" shouted, the crowd danced in response, the roaring people raised their arms to the sky to "get up", the stage background towered with a huge four words "Children of the Wind and Clouds", the melody of "The March of the Volunteer Army" sounded, and the intention of the play was gradually sublimated to the highest point, reaching the climax of the whole play. It should be said that Tian Han's "March of the Volunteer Army" is passionate and high-pitched, the dance drama "Blood is a Song" is youthful and passionate, and the passion of the characters in the play is integrated with the audience, expressing the wishes of the broad masses of the people and the voice of the Chinese nation.
Dance is an abstract way of artistic expression, which determines that it is not good at depicting objective objects, but the dancers accurately grasp and express body language, supplemented by the harmonic frequency of music, choreography, costumes and other related elements, convey feelings, so that the audience can feel the story content and main idea intended to convey the repertoire.
Exciting melody, to achieve the transformation of things and hearts
Dance drama is aimed at expressing the main storyline content of the drama with the rhythm of body movements, but it is difficult to complete the communication of feelings by relying on abstract movements alone, and it is obvious that music is one of the important expression elements. The note melody unifies the dancer's body movements and the rhythm of the stage picture, and shapes the character image according to the plot, expresses the psychology of the characters, renders the atmosphere, achieves the transformation of the direction of the matter and the heart, and promotes the development of the plot, at the same time, as a sound "language" runs through the entire plot, so that the music and the plot are closely integrated, helping the audience understand the connotation of the dance drama, which has an irreplaceable role.
The music of "Blood as a Song" is good at controlling the rhythm of the plot with the elements of regional cultural music. No matter how far a person goes, the hometown complex and homeland disposition are deeply imprinted in the bone marrow. The prologue kicked off, using the background music of Changsha's playing words and fishing drums, metaphorically as Tian Han's Xiangren identity, and with the stage design of the shanghai attic to open Tian Han's wandering status. Following the play-in-play of "Carmen", the background accompaniment music of tian Han and An'e male and female protagonists full of "Haipai" temperament, and the static background of the Shanghai Bund street lamp people, the sweetness of the two like-minded people and the gentleness of the night, so that the story of the play is regulated in Shanghai. The music of "Night Shanghai" sounded, the stage flowed in the old Shanghai 30s social secular map, once again to strengthen the regionality of the story, in order to render the atmosphere, the "selling newspaper song" music elements flowed happily. The "9.18" incident broke out, and in the song of "On the Songhua River", countless fathers and fellow villagers in the northeast were displaced. The gentleness of "Song of The Four Seasons" is accompanied by the Song of The Green Silk Cheongsam of Jiangnan People Holding pipa, "Suzhou Commentary" describes the mesmerizing sound of Shanghai Beach, the drunken dream of death, the sudden arrival of bombers and guns leading to the death of innocent people, strong contrast techniques, giving the audience a strong visual shock, and its music is to promote the plot to the climax. The melody of "Dock Workers Song" shows not only the ravages suffered by the Shanghai dock workers and the masses under the Kou invaders, but also the cries of the people and the awakening of Tian Han's heart, achieving the transformation of external events into inner emotions, transforming into emotional resonance with the audience's hearts.
The use of different music theory elements to regulate the personality of the characters in the play is one of the main features of the musical melody of the play. In the play, the protagonists of the iron triangle Tian Han, An E, Nie Er, the musical symbols of the three people are different, Tian Han's musical image, in order to highlight the characteristics of his Hunan people and playwrights, in addition to using Changsha to play the song tune in the opening scene, and then Tian Han's opera stylized performance and his psychological emotions of being arrested and imprisoned in the second half of the play are externalized, all of which use the Xiang opera singing voice design to express his persistent and passionate Zhengzheng male image, highlighting the character characteristics of his Hunan people. Nie Er uses a joyful and fierce violin melody to express his lively and wise personality, especially his one-handed bow string shape is like the embodiment of the violin. In a dance unveiled by Nie Er, with a melody-style soundtrack, accompanied by a mobile group dance with the cheerful rhythm of tap dance, the breath of youth fills the entire stage, and the plot is also transformed from the previous suppression to comfort, so that the audience's complex can also be relaxed and relaxed, which is obviously different from the musical symbols on Tian Han's body. As the only female protagonist in the whole play, An'e uses the oboe, a tender and romantic instrument, on the orchestration, and its melodic color is also peaceful and bright. Another supporting actress, Tabloid, also has her own character song, the main melody is "Selling Newspaper Songs" created by Nie Er and An'e, which are reflected in her appearance, teasing the charter wife with Nie Er, and finally recalling the sitcoms when she left. In the play, the ugly characters Bao Counselor and his minions, the music melody is low, the musical symbol elements are dull and depressed, and the character image is psychologically dark, giving people a very unhappy feeling.
The last two scenes in the play are the highlight of the whole play, and when Counselor Bao throws out the message that Nie Er is dead, he accompanies it with a dull long tone, revealing the darkness of Counselor Bao's heart. To Tian Han's inner struggle to resist, the note jump is based on the character's psychological context as the main line, the contradiction and conflict, under the high melody of the orchestral tune, with the ensemble of orchestral music such as the trombone cello, coupled with the sonorous and powerful assistance of the percussion part, to create an artistic mood, portray the inner feelings of the characters, lay out the climax, and promote the development of the plot, especially in which the variational melody of the national anthem is integrated, so that the grand momentum of the whole play gushes out at once, and it also renders the theme of the play very well. "Road Song", "Graduation Song", "Women's Cry", "Singer Under the Iron Hoof", "Song of Rejuvenation", "Fisherman's Song", the projection font of the background of the curtain and the music melody are superimposed, and the layout is progressively echoed by the climax melody of the song "March of the Volunteer Army", which shows the depression and indignation in Tian Han's heart to the audience in an all-round way, making people cry, and stirring up patriotic enthusiasm, transcending the barrier between the inherent story and the concept of reality in the dance drama.
Blood is exuberant, and youth is used to write struggle
Before the performance of "Blood as a Song" at the 7th Hunan Provincial Arts Festival, Yang Xia, chairman of the Hunan Provincial Song and Dance Theater, contacted me by phone, hoping that I would write a review with the words of a viewer, and she was worried that at the moment of fast food culture, some people would not understand the meaning and theme of dance with only body language. There was no doubt that her worries were superfluous. The screenwriting text has a complete story structure that is in line with the reality of historical materials, and the character characteristics are distinct; the director's second creation is passionate, the three-dimensional sense of stage is full of expressionism, and the dancers' passionate interpretation of the dance fashion is dynamic, so that the performance of "Blood as a Song" wins warm applause from the audience.
The boy does not show his ambition, and he is born with an eight-foot body. The dance drama "Blood When Song" gives us not only the fashionable youth dance of the actors of the whole play, but also a ray of sunshine reflecting into our vast spiritual space, which is the awakening of young people, the responsibility of cultural people, and the warm feelings for the country. Tian Han and Nie Er's optimism, perseverance and noble character, tenacious struggle, never say defeat spirit of struggle, love of life, willing to return to the community of broad mind, this is both the present and the history, both life and society, both classic and popular, both realistic, but also full of concepts and spiritual meaning, passing on to us is another way of enlightenment of life.
Youth is a hot-blooded fighter, stirring up the waves of youth with action. Everyone has life, but not everyone can read life. The human body can age over time, while the life-giving thoughts can live forever, with the sun and the moon. Those with lofty ideals have used the sweat of struggle to exhaust the mud and sand of setbacks, leaving a shining gold grain that shines in the depths of the years.
On New Year's Eve, although I had walked out of the theater for some time, I was still sitting quietly in my own car, at this moment, not burdened by materialistic tedious duties, the bursting blood was like a headwind flying in the valley, the jumping thoughts were like a waterfall, and Tan Sitong's poem suddenly popped out of my head: "If the country is born and die, it is better to avoid it because of misfortune." Remember that Qiu Jin had a poetry cloud: "Turbid wine does not sell the tears of worry and the country, and when it is saved, it should be a group of talents." "Modern China is indeed full of talents, brilliant as stars. I also remembered Tagore's words: "Born like the splendor of summer flowers, dead like the quiet beauty of autumn leaves." This poem seems to be incompatible with the present, but it just pops out of nowhere, like snowflakes flying in front of you.