Dazhong Newspaper and Dazhong Daily reporter Zhu Ziyu
In October 1995, members of the Sino-Japanese Niya Site Academic Expedition found a piece of brocade in an ancient tomb at the Niya Site in Minfeng County, Hotan District, with eight seal Characters on it: "Five Stars Out of the East and China". Coincidentally, one of the archeological team leaders at that time was Qi Dongfang, a professor at the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University. The dance drama with this theme opens up the boundaries between ancient and modern, so that this precious cultural relics can bloom again with unparalleled charm and vitality, and it is difficult to find a ticket for the national tour.
"Five Stars out of the East": Painting cultural relics with dance
2022-03-12Source: Dazhong Daily 11th edition
In vientiane' renewed lights, pieces of Han portrait bricks emerge on the stage, dancers wear "prosperous clothes", flip the flying sleeves to interpret the "three bends", and interpret the beauty of traditional Chinese culture to the extreme... The dance drama "Five Stars Out of the East" created with the theme of the national first-class cultural relics "Five Stars Out of the Orient and Li China" of the Han Dynasty Brocade Arm Guard has appeared on many Lantern Festival evenings, and has been on Weibo hot search twice, and netizens have directly called "This is another work of cultural self-confidence". Not long ago, "Five Stars out of the East" began a national tour, and was brilliantly staged at the Shandong Provincial Capital Grand Theater on February 26 and 27, and the scene was full.
Using dance to tell the story of cultural relics well, highlighting the deep spiritual connotation behind it, facing challenges in all aspects, but the very stylish creation of "Five Stars out of the East", the rich and diverse dance vocabulary, and the ups and downs of the plot design have left a deep impression on the Audience of Shandong. Talking about the reasons why the work is out of the circle, Wang Ye, the chief choreographer of the play, the national first-class director and the vice chairman of the China Dancers Association, made no secret of it: "The most important thing is to look good." Exquisite works of art meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the public and produce emotional resonance, which is inseparable from the environment of local cultural self-confidence. ”
Dance is best for show
The historical style of this national treasure-level cultural relic
The excavation of the Han Dynasty brocade arm guard of the "Five Stars out of the East and China" is hailed as one of the greatest discoveries of Chinese archaeology in the 20th century. In October 1995, members of the Sino-Japanese Niya Site Academic Expedition team found a piece of brocade in an ancient tomb at the Niya Site in Minfeng County, Hotan Region, which was 18.5 cm long and 12.5 cm wide, with eight Chinese characters in seal script: "Five Stars Out of the East and Li China", after thousands of years, the colors are still as beautiful as ever. What is even more coincidental is that one of the archeological team leaders at that time was Qi Dongfang, a professor at the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University, and everyone who heard about it was amazed.
In the face of such a precious creative theme, the main creative team was cautious in the choice of art form, and strived to find the most perfect expression language. "In our original understanding, dance drama belongs to a niche genre. At the time of material selection, the team conducted many discussions in musicals and dance dramas and found that dance is indeed the most suitable for showing the historical style of this national treasure. Dong Ning, deputy general manager of Beijing Performing Arts Group and producer of "Five Stars out of the East", said that the "five stars out of the East and Benefit China" Han Dynasty brocade armband did not have much historical support, so more artistic imagination was needed to fill. Dance is the most primitive, authentic and universal human art form, and the narrative performance of dance drama needs to be reflected through dance. It is precisely such a simple form that can make up for the shortcomings of the scarcity of historical information, vividly present vivid archaeological stories on the stage, and release the rich historical and cultural connotation of the brocade arm.
During the tour, "Five Stars out of the East" was well received by audiences in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, and a ticket was difficult to find, which completely exceeded Dong Ning's expectations. "From the creative process to the market practice, we are increasingly feeling that dance drama has become popular. Its aesthetics of the times and the artistic concepts of its creators are undergoing new changes. She said. Many netizens said bluntly on social platforms that they almost "cried and laughed" after watching the whole play, subverting the cognition of dance drama: the original dance drama can use so many elements to tell stories, the dance art landscape of national treasures is so beautiful, and the exquisite and beautiful degree of costumes and props is surprising.
Outside the stage, many audiences shared and interpreted some dance fragments based on different perspectives, forming a word-of-mouth effect on the Internet, which also brought greater extension space to the work, reflecting the artist's unique and innovative wisdom and thinking. Xu Yuechun, vice chairman and secretary general of the China Critics Association and director of the Literary and Art Review Center of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, believes that through the successful interpretation of the IP art of cultural relics through dance dramas, the audience, while appreciating the colorful dance segments and the exquisite and exquisite lighting and dance design of Fuhua Road, remembered the characters, remembered the story, remembered this national treasure-level cultural relic of the Han Dynasty, and then formed the theme of forming a community of common destiny of the Chinese nation.
Pursue the ultimate in artistic imagination
Finding the right form of expression and how to create artistically is a difficult problem that follows. As we all know, the language and structure of dance drama are far different from drama, and it is impossible to unfold the narrative like drama. The threads of the brocade arm guard are very limited, which means that in order to bring the story of the national treasure to life, the creative team must use the artistic imagination to the extreme.
Xu Rui, the screenwriter of the play and vice president of the Beijing Dance Academy, revealed that "Five Stars out of the East" lasted two years from the brewing of the rehearsal to the official stage, the script was drafted 12 times, and the team repeatedly conducted arguments and discussions from history, cultural relics, philosophy, religion, dance, music, etc., and finally formed a unique filmized "song and dance narrative": the Han Dynasty Shubian general Feng Feng (Luo Yuwen) between Jiante (Played by Solang Qundan), the son of the Leader of the Northern People, and Chunjun (Played by Gulimina), the daughter of the Leader of the Elite Leader, from sword fighting to working side by side From unknown acquaintance to deep recognition, a deep friendship has been formed, interpreting the theme of the people of all ethnic groups "hugging together like pomegranate seeds" and forming a community of common destiny for the Chinese nation.
In order to tell this story well, the main creative team personally went to Hetian in Xinjiang to collect wind, feel the most authentic emotional connection brought by this arm in the hinterland of the desert, and at the same time extract the artistic vocabulary from the archaeological history of the Hotan area, local folk customs, ethnic costumes, ethnic music, etc., understand the musical patterns of ethnic minorities and the local artistic expressions with distinct national characteristics, and accumulate precious materials for creation.
It can be said that the song and dance of the Great Han Dynasty in the play, the historical and humanistic style of the Western Regions, and the shaping of the character image are all artistic imaginations based on history and respect for facts. Names and names such as "Jingjie City", "Feng", "Chunjun" and so on, are not fictional, but are arranged according to the content of Niya Mujian; character modeling and makeup are also based on the aesthetics of the same period as the starting point, in the "Splendid" dance section out of the circle, the dancers' costumes and makeup refer to the Han Dynasty wooden figurines seen in the museum when the main creator is collecting styles, wearing slender Hanfu qu skirts, style wrapping and restrictions. The headdress is designed as a White Jade texture pattern, solemn and elegant, and the face is a very representative makeup of the Han Dynasty "long eyebrow red makeup".
As Xu Yuechun said at the watching seminar of the play, even if it is a fictional story, it also skillfully restores the history of ethnic integration in the frontier areas with superb artistic means, and realizes the revitalization of historical truth through the typicalization of artistic reality.
Use comedy to show a thick history
In Wang's view, an important factor in the good look of "Five Stars out of the East" is that the creative team tried to show this thick history in a comedic way for the first time. "It shows the cultural collision and exchange in the play through a relaxed and humorous performance, which is rare in dance dramas."
"Dance drama is the accumulation of dance images." Wang Ye said. Dance drama is a visual performance of dance, through the narrative intention and people's keen perception of a kind of realization, so as to understand the narrative in a way of discovery. Therefore, the rich dance language makes the plot of each paragraph particularly vivid, which can bring many novel feelings to the audience. Like the night banquet "Lantern Dance" full of Western colors in the Jingjie City, you can find the shadow of the national dance, the "Bundi" dance section of the people of all ethnic groups dancing together in the Jingjie Market, and it seems to be a mixed presentation of street dance and tap dance, and the sleeve bending shown in "Splendid Embroidery" belongs to the category of classical dance.
In addition, there are also solo dances persuaded by Chunjun, "double battle dances" by Bong He Jiante, "bath dances" by tome men, "square dances" by monks, and "melon eating dances" by the masses, all of which promote the deepening of the plot in a witty atmosphere. Different from the works of one sadness to the end or one to the end, under the narrative form of light comedy, Bong and Jiante go from hostility to comrades-in-arms, their friendship comes naturally, and Feng also gains the love of Chunjun. The family, friendship, love and brotherhood in the story are vividly highlighted.
As a symbol of fate and commonality in the play, the brocade arm guard has been worn on the arm of Feng, until he finally died to protect the people of Jingjie City, and was handed over to the leader of Jingjie City. At this moment, the audience was moved to tears. The legend of 2,000 years ago will finally come to an end, but it breaks the boundaries between ancient and modern, so that this precious cultural relic has once again bloomed with unparalleled charm and vitality, which will make the audience unforgettable.