The "Wu" Color "Jing" Hua throughout the year - the 2022 martial arts exhibition is about to start The Beijing Opera House courtesy of Beijing Opera House
Beijing, March 1 (Reporter Gao Kai) 51 classic Peking Opera martial arts dramas have taken over the stage, 40 outstanding actors have taken turns on the stage, and on March 1, the Beijing Opera House held a press conference to announce that the "Wu" Cai "Jing" Hua throughout the year - the 2022 martial arts exhibition will soon begin.
The development of Peking Opera art has experienced a magnificent history of more than 230 years, of which martial arts, as the "half of the country" of Peking Opera, accompanies the whole process of the occurrence, development and maturity of Peking Opera art, which has distinct uniqueness. "The source is long, and the root is deep." Peking Opera martial arts have gathered essences and accumulated heritage in the long history.
Yang Shaochun, a famous Peking Opera performance artist, courtesy of Beijing Peking Opera House
In order to revitalize Peking Opera martial arts, promote the inheritance of repertoire, and strengthen the construction of the echelon of martial arts actors in the theater, in 2022, the Beijing Opera House grandly planned to launch the "Wu" Cai "Jing" Hua - Martial Arts Exhibition and Performance, an annual key brand performance activity. To build an important platform for martial arts actors to promote their growth with their drama, through the excavation and collation of classic martial arts, comprehensively display the superb skills of the actors, the lofty posture of the theater and the charm of martial arts art.
At the press conference, Liu Tong, president of the Beijing Opera House, said that in the past two years, the sudden outbreak of the new crown epidemic has had a huge impact on the literary and artistic performance market. On July 30, 2020, after the suspension of performances affected by the epidemic for half a year, the Beijing Peking Opera House's "Red Maned Horse" "broke the first bloom of the epidemic" at the Chang'an Grand Theater, and the performances were sold out in less than two hours, and in 2021, the Beijing Opera House and the Art Research Institute of Beijing Foreign Chinese University cooperated to complete the "Training of Martial Arts Performing Talents in Peking Opera Ye (Shengzhang) Sect of Martial Arts", focusing on processing and polishing a large number of martial arts dramas such as "Three Thieves Nine Dragon Cup", "Borrowing Fan", "Thorn Bajie", "Pirate Armor" and so on, which won wide acclaim. In December 2021, the newly compiled Peking Opera "Big Knife King V" of the Beijing Opera House was successfully premiered at the Chang'an Grand Theatre, which became a useful exploration for the theater to promote the creation of martial arts. The martial arts exhibition and performance held by the Beijing Opera House throughout the year is not only a comprehensive display of the construction of the martial arts repertoire and talent echelon of the theater on the basis of doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, but also a thank you and feedback to the majority of opera fans who care about and support the art of Peking Opera.
The "Wu" Color "Jing" Hua throughout the year - the 2022 martial arts exhibition is about to start The Beijing Opera House courtesy of Beijing Opera House
Zhu Jia, vice president of the Beijing Opera House in Beijing, announced the annual performance schedule of martial arts performances. Zhu Jia said that through the recommendation of various troupes, expert arguments, and deliberations of the dean's office meeting, the repertoire and actors in this exhibition were preliminarily selected for 83 plays and 45 people were shortlisted, and after layers of screening, 51 classic martial arts and 40 martial arts talents were finally selected to participate. The performance repertoire includes 17 large-scale plays, 9 medium-sized plays and 25 small plays; the cast covers the leading theater, the backbone of the theater, the young leaders and young talents, and the wusheng, wudan, wujing and wugui are all on the dam. The exhibition will be performed 30 times in March, June, July, September and November respectively at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Chang'an Grand Theater and Jixiang Grand Theater, in order to gather the strength of the whole academy to carry forward the spirit of martial arts and promote the inheritance of martial arts.
Yang Shaochun, a famous Peking Opera performance artist, excitedly said that the grand holding of the martial arts exhibition and performance of the Beijing Peking Opera House is of great significance, which can be called a happy event in the art world and a grand event in the pear garden. The golden period of the artistic career of martial arts actors is very short, and young martial arts actors must firmly grasp the opportunity to show off. "Youth is in full bloom, and it is time to struggle." Teacher Yang Shaochun encouraged young martial arts actors to "move forward at the pass", work hard during rehearsals, show their true skills on the stage, and complete each performance perfectly.
Wei Xuelei, a national first-class actor at the Beijing Opera House, and Xie Hao, an outstanding young actor, displayed the wonderful fragments of the Peking Opera "Haunted Heavenly Palace" on the same day.
It is reported that on March 2 and 3, the Peking opera "Yang Qiniang" and "Qi Tian Dasheng" will open at the National Centre for the Performing Arts; on March 9, "Longtan Bao Luo" will be unveiled at the Chang'an Grand Theatre, marking the restart of the Beijing Peking Opera Theater's "Wu" Cai "Jing" Hua - Martial Arts Exhibition. (End)