Tan Yuanyuan and Her Friends - Art Museum Fantasy Night, Artistic Director and Choreographer Tan Yuanyuan. Courtesy of the crew
As the closing play of the 5th Tianqiao Chinese Spring Arts Festival, the dance drama "Tan Yuanyuan and Her Friends - Fantasy Night of the Art Museum" (hereinafter referred to as "The Fantastic Night of the Art Museum") was created by director Zhou Ke and the outstanding creative team at home and abroad. Tan Yuanyuan, as the lead dancer, unites the top dancers of domestic modern dance, classical dance, and classical music artists to combine ballet with different dance genres through a story line, and this is also Tan Yuanyuan's first performance project after "Dance Storm 2", which will be toured in more than 10 cities in China after the Premiere in Beijing. The Beijing News reporter interviewed Tan Yuanyuan to reveal the story behind this special work.
Main line of work:
Famous paintings have "come alive" in the art museum
Audiences familiar with Tan Yuanyuan's dance works are no strangers to the dance series performances of "Tan Yuanyuan and Her Friends". Unlike the previous performances, which are all Gala's nature, the creative team of "Art Museum Fantasy Night" hopes that this performance can be different from the previous one and break through from the traditional way, so director Zhou Ke proposed the idea of using a specific scene as the main line to connect different dancers and dancers. Under this main line, not only can there be dancers dancing alone, but all the dances can also be combined. "Director Zhou Ke proposed the concept of 'art museum', imagining that in the art museum at midnight, the scene where every painting is 'alive', which is very interesting. The idea was unanimously agreed by the creative team, including me. Tan Yuanyuan said.
Rehearsal photo of "Fantastic Night in the Art Museum". Courtesy of the crew
As the artistic director of the work "Art Museum Fantasy Night", the biggest feeling of this new work is "pressure", Tan Yuanyuan admitted that the appreciation level of domestic audiences is getting higher and higher, whether from the artistry, audience, professionalism of the project has higher requirements and expectations. Tan Yuanyuan introduced that in the "Fantastic Night of the Art Museum", it brings together dancers of ballet, modern dance, classical dance, as well as musicians such as piano, violin, classical guitar, bayan, pipa and so on. The story is set in a midnight art museum, where all the paintings are resurrected at midnight, and the dancers interpret classic paintings of the East and the West through dance and music played by musicians.
In the dance drama, the audience can see the dancers "walking" out of the "famous paintings". Courtesy of the crew
Tan Yuanyuan hopes that after the audience enters the theater, they really have the experience of entering the art museum, and the production team even considers creating an immersive atmosphere of the art museum from the beginning of the audience's admission, for example, seeing security personnel in the art museum or hearing the setting of the quiet field broadcast. "This feeling must be a whole new experience for the audience who walks into the theater." Since this project is called 'Dance Music Theater', there should not only be dancers and dancers, but also musicians and live music performances, which is also a new attempt. In such a performance atmosphere, Tan Yuanyuan hopes that every audience can become a part of the performance, whether it is the actors on the stage or the audience offstage, they are an important part of this work, and everyone can feel the charm of dance and music in the "art museum".
Tan Yuanyuan revealed that each work of "Fantastic Night in the Art Museum" is carefully selected by the dancers themselves, and in her opinion, the more classic the painting, the more inspiration can inspire the dancers. These paintings run through ancient and modern times, spanning the East and the West, including famous works such as "Fuchun Mountain Jutu", "The Elephant of No Elephant", "Walking Ink Line", as well as van Gogh's "Starry Sky" and the works of Western surreal painters. Tan Yuanyuan said that she has always liked to try to cross the border between art, and she is very much looking forward to the fusion of dance and painting art, and Tan Yuanyuan herself has selected several paintings, one of which is René Margaret's "Lover". I have always loved this work, the masked couple, as if to confirm the famous saying of Elasmus's 'blind love', like a masquerade ball, knowing each other because they don't know each other, and hiding each other's unknown side deeply. However, what is the mysterious message conveyed by this painting, I believe that the audience will have their own feelings. ”
dialogue:
In the future, try to combine dance with more art forms
Beijing News: Combining classic Chinese and foreign paintings with different types of dance, what are the greater challenges and difficulties in choreography?
Tan Yuanyuan: Classic Chinese and foreign paintings have different interpretations for everyone. For the dancers, what is presented on the stage is the choreography and the dancer's interpretation of the work. What do they want to express the mood of the painting? Or the man in the picture? Or is it the spiritual power presented in this work? Can this interpretation be recognized by the audience? This is a big challenge.
Beijing News: The director comes from drama, so will "Art Museum Fantasy Night" be expressed more through drama? How is the stage vision different from the past?
Tan Yuanyuan: "The Fantastic Night of the Art Museum" has a main line running through, which integrates different dances and different art forms, and at the same time has the expression method of borrowing drama in terms of performance and transition, so as to enhance the audience's perception. The choreography, images, etc. are all carried out around the theme of "art museum", and our stage designer Chen Yuxuan has participated in many Broadway musicals and dance drama projects, and I look forward to showing a scene where people and paintings are combined.
Beijing News: Since it is a dance music theater, how can the music part be properly combined with dance?
Tan Yuanyuan: I am very happy to be able to work with musician David Qu. Music is an important part of the dance work, Mr. David communicates with each dancer, according to the dancer's own ideas to try the cooperation of different musical elements, and we will use more live music to match the performance, to create an immersive experience.
The music team of "Art Museum Fantasy Night". Courtesy of the crew
Beijing News: You remember in "Dance Storm" that you once said, "Swans are migratory birds and will always return." Now that you have "returned", what new ideas do you hope to bring to the current ballet or dance?
Tan Yuanyuan: In recent years, I have been trying to try modern ballet works, and this project is also a new attempt, as I said before, I have been actively trying to cross-border and integrate art. It is not only the fusion of dance art in ballet, modern dance, and classical dance, but also the hope to combine dance and other art forms.
Beijing News: Over the years, you have also been committed to cultivating a younger generation of dance talents, from the perspective of "return", looking at the overall development of domestic dancers, what are your thoughts and feelings about "Peixin"?
Tan Yuanyuan: In recent years, dance has been very well developed in China, whether it is the market environment or the audience base, it has been greatly improved, which is an opportunity for every dance practitioner. Now that there are many excellent dancers in China, and with a resource-rich platform for more dancers to show themselves, I am actually quite envious of the current domestic dance environment (laughs). For "Peixin", I think it is not simply to cultivate new dancers, my understanding is that every dancer should actively use such a good development environment, and everyone should work together to "cultivate" dance art to cultivate "new" development.
Liu Zhen, a senior reporter of the Beijing News
Senior Editor Tian Kaini Proofreader Li Lijun