Journey through the green of a thousand years
Li Li
At the Spring Festival Gala in 2022, an excerpt from the dance and poetry drama "Only This Green" that tells the creation process of the famous painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" has conquered the hearts of audiences across the country with the traditional Chinese aesthetic meaning full of philosophical ideas. A 6-minute group dance, like a flowing historical picture scroll slowly unfolding in front of the eyes, amazing moments, you and I are all exhibiting people.
"A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is one of the top ten famous paintings in China, painted by the Northern Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng in half a year at the age of 18. Different from the black and white ink painting, the painting is named after the mineral pigments painted with stone blue and stone green, and the brilliant turquoise tones depict the splendid grandeur of thousands of miles of rivers and mountains. This group dance on the Spring Festival Gala stage is to express the green landscape that comes alive, and express the concept of mountains and mountains in a dance language. In the dance drama, green and green not only refers to the color of green and green, that is, the coloring method of stone blue and stone green with Chinese painting pigments as the main colors, but also implies a Chinese cultural spirit: simple and introverted, scattered and loose, jumping out of the earthly fly camp dog, returning to the spirit of heaven and earth, and understanding the vastness and distance of life.
Wang Ximeng, a young genius in the past, painted with a green and green pen and entrusted the heavens and earth in his heart to the paper. The raw material ore of shiqing is azurite, which is divided into head blue, second green, three green and four green, because of the strong coverage of stone blue, it can be covered layer by layer when drawing. The raw material ore of stone green belongs to malachite, which can be divided into head green, two green, three green and four green according to the fineness of grinding, and can be glued when it is studied to a very fine point. The production and grinding of pigments was contracted by Wang Ximeng alone. So back and forth, day by day contact with heavy metal pigments, the body of the young Wang Ximeng is not as good as a day, when the painting is completed, it is also the time when he is poisoned into the bone and dies. The twelve-meter-long picture scroll "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is majestic and textured, and can be passed down through the ages not only because of the classics of the painter's paintings, but also because of the characteristics of mineral color that does not fade after thousands of years. In the use of color in "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", Wang Ximeng seeks changes in the monotonous blue-green, although the main color is turquoise, but pays attention to the change of the technique when applying color, the color is thick or light, and the ochre is lined, so that the picture is layered, the color is like a jewel, the brilliance is dazzling, and it is still green and bright under the thousand years. Different from black and white ink landscape painting, in the color landscape painting, color can express light, texture and season, from the scene depicted in Wang Ximeng's painting, it is based on the beautiful and beautiful landscape in the south, he uses green dots to dye the light of the peaks and rivers, which also means the season, and the painting is clearly the scene of the prosperity of heaven and earth in spring and summer. Therefore, it can be said that a touch of green is the soul of the famous painting "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" throughout the ages.
In the dance drama, the green is creatively refined into an abstract, freehand character, the green Jiangnan landscape is feminine, the eyebrows are sharp, the lips are high, the green is dyed, and the group dance is stacked. The painting method of green landscapes is divided into large green and small green. "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" is rolled on the color and pen, which is a magnificent "big green method", which is characterized by more hook silhouettes, less pencils, thick and exaggerated coloring, and strong decoration. These characteristics are integrated into the overall design of the dance drama by the choreographer. For example, the dancer's headdress is like a mountain stone in "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", and the sleeves are sagging like the texture of the mountain, which can also be imagined as a mountain waterfall hanging. The dancers' angular movements can be associated with the mountains, rivers, sun, moon, or the staggering of mountains and stones in the painting, and each neat sleeve is somewhat similar to the delicate hook outline in the painting. As the dancers slowly turned around en masse, it was as if they saw a mountain peak approaching us. When they slowly moved their center of gravity down, it was as if the mountains were moving. When the dancers present different shapes and changes in posture, they are simulating the layers of mountains. When the dancer's upper body lies behind him, almost parallel to the ground, this difficult movement that seems to float in mid-air, which is jokingly called "green waist", simulates the dangerous and steep lines of the mountain. The temperament of the dancers is like coming out of the Song paintings, and there is a cold beauty. Their steps are calm and powerful, the whole body center of gravity is downward, there is a state of heart with hills and valleys, eyes in the mountains and rivers, not the traditional impression of a very feminine dance of women, but sonorous and powerful, calm and atmospheric, with the temperament and soul contained in "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains". Between the dances, the stage also slowly spews out swirling white smoke, such as the clouds and mist between the mountains and rivers, light and smoke, heavy and fog, floating and mist, scattered and gas. In front of our eyes, it is like seeing the undulating peaks, the rivers and rivers are vast, the mountains and rivers are magnificent, the sky is full of sky, and the weather is endless.
Travel thousands of miles in Jiangnan, into the eyes, always can not escape the "picturesque, smoke and water hazy" eight words. The whole dance drama is full of the literary and ink atmosphere of chinese painting landscapes, the wonder of mountains, and the vastness of water, all in the rise and fall of water sleeves. Layers of mountains and mountains, thick green and lush, flying waterfalls and springs, the river flow is like a turn. A screen of continuous scrolls, seemingly gentle and light, walking into the cliffs and cliffs of Fangzhi, a peak of rocks and rocks, thousands of rocks, flowers and stones. The peaks are like a gathering, the smoke is ethereal, far away, connected, ten thousand valleys compete for dominance, and the rivers are crisscrossed. How many skirts fly and long sleeves dance, how many toes slide and rotate, how many lean backs and glances, there are green and green in the wonderful exhibition. This is really a dancing green landscape, picturesque thousands of miles of rivers and mountains! On the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, which has the largest audience in the world, the dance drama "Only This Green" brings the audience not only difficult dances and visual enjoyment beyond the senses, but also the harmony between man and nature and the resonance of Chinese cultural self-confidence.
In the northern city where I am located, in the early winter and early spring, everything has not yet woken up, and at this time, when I go outdoors, I still don't see the green, but in the green landscape of the stage, gradually, I have a beautiful comfort. For thousands of years, Chinese painters have been making new interpretations of "nature", they are interested in flowers, birds, insects and fish, mountains and bamboo trees, mountains and mountains, rivers and lakes, they follow "nature" to "experience" in the observation of everything in the universe, so as to obtain spiritual freedom and realize the artistry of life. It is precisely out of the appeal to "nature" that to this day, when we meet these ancient pictures (the dance drama "Only This Green" is based on the "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" for a second creation), in front of them for a long time to stare and meditate, you can still feel their lively vitality and the infinite creativity of the painter. Thousands of years of green, infinite mountains and rivers, the beauty of Song paintings on the stage, the beauty of Chinese classics, let my heart gradually green, green and vibrant.
It's twilight
The month is as good as ever
Thousands of miles of rivers and mountains are flying across
Sing live
People look around
Invite the moon to stay in the depths of the green mountains