Speaking of the China Disabled People's Art Troupe, people are most impressed by Tai Lihua's "Thousand Hands Guanyin". At the opening and closing ceremonies of the recent Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, the national anthem of sign language, the dance performance of the integration of disability and health, and the display of the emblem once again brought the China Disabled People's Art Troupe into the eyes of the Chinese people. How do actors and train this special art group, and what is the touching story behind them? This reporter interviewed the China Disabled People's Art Troupe and approached these artists who are constantly improving themselves and bringing spiritual enjoyment to people.
Nearly 100 performers cover three categories: dance, vocal music and instrumental music
The history of the China Disabled People's Art Troupe can be traced back to 1987, and more than 30 disabled people who love art participated in the first China Arts Festival under the special care of the party and the government, announcing the birth of the China Disabled People's Art Troupe. In 2002, with the approval of the state and the registration of public institution legal persons, the art troupe was formed by an amateur mass art organization and became a professional art group and entered the cultural market. Over the years, they have successively launched many performances such as "Thousand Hands Guanyin", "Butterfly", "Spirit of the Sparrow" and so on.
At present, the China Disabled People's Art Troupe has three categories of deaf actors, visually impaired actors and disabled actors, with a total of 92 people, and the art categories cover dance, vocal music, instrumental music, and the art troupe also has its own band. "The art troupe has its own affiliated schools, every three years to the national enrollment brochure, the first year of the school year students can apply, sometimes we will also recruit outstanding talents in schools for the disabled and art troupes everywhere." Li Wenqian, head of the performance department of the China Disabled People's Art Troupe, introduced that the actors in the troupe are divided into echelons, with a backbone and a reserve cadet team, and the average age of the backbone is 245 years old.
Every year, the art troupe recruits new students, and there will be many touching stories. Some actors are not born with disabilities, and at the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympic Games, the blind person who displayed the "smallest emblem" in the palm of his hand was Wang Qi, the saxophonist of the troupe. An accident in his youth blinded Wang Qi, and he continued to learn saxophone and won many awards. After Wang Qi entered the art troupe, the troupe provided him with funds to study saxophone and helped him continue his studies.
Li Wenqian said: "Many of the children we recruited have not very good family conditions. I remember a deaf child whose mother was deaf and whose father didn't have a formal job and the family was difficult. When he came in, we saw that he didn't look happy and asked him why. He said, I still have a sister, and if I come, my sister will have no one to take care of. Hearing that his sister was also deaf, the art troupe immediately decided to recruit his sister as well.
After entering the art troupe, the members of the troupe should live in a centralized manner, have a fixed schedule for classes and exercises, and the art troupe adopts quasi-militarized management and strict discipline. "We not only want to cultivate their living habits, but also hope that they have the same qualities and cultivation as soldiers, which will help them improve the quality of art and them personally." Li Wenqian said.
The deaf are the eyes of the blind, and the blind are the ears of the deaf
Chatting with the actors and staff of the China Disabled Arts Troupe, their most often words are: "We are a big family, and we have a deep tacit understanding with each other." "It may not be easy for able-bodied people to imagine, how can they support each other? In fact, their deep friendship with each other has penetrated into the bits and pieces of life.
Li Wenqian introduced that some of the deaf dancers in the art troupe are equipped with hearing aids, some have cochlear implants, and they can feel some heavy beat sounds, but they also need the help of sign language teachers in learning and rehearsal. "When the choreographer teacher gives information such as turning around, deaf children will not be able to react at the first time like able-bodied children, and they need to be translated by a sign language teacher, but this time will not be very long." Li Wenqian said that there are currently four sign language teachers in the group, in addition to sleeping, they almost all live with the actors, reached a very strong tacit understanding, a look and a breath, the actors know what to do in the next second.
There is also a touching tacit understanding between the blind actors. "We definitely don't play the score, memorize it and then grind it into each other." Wang Qi said that during the performance, "we heard a breath from the people around us and knew how I was going to enter this music in the next second." "Deaf people and blind people in the art troupe are also helping each other all the time, deaf people are blind people's eyes, and blind people are deaf ears." Usually travel and performance on and off the stage, the deaf partner will hold the blind person, go out to live in the hotel, but also with the live, the waiter came to the deaf partner can see, the alarm clock rings, the blind person hears the deaf companion to get up.
For the members of the art troupe, partners are artistic partners, but also friends and family members in life. Wang Qi met his partner in the group. His wife is an erhu actor in the troupe, and wang Qi met after entering the art troupe in 2007, and their common love of music attracted them to each other, and finally came together. "Before, we had a 'Welcome back to a warm home' on the door of our group, and indeed as it was written, we all regarded this place as home."
Rooted in the fields, the best stage is in the motherland
The good atmosphere of the China Disabled People's Art Troupe has promoted their artistic pursuits, and the troupe has not been absent from the grassroots and touring abroad.
Needless to say, "Thousand Hands Guanyin", which touched hundreds of millions of Chinese at the Spring Festival Gala in 2005, had performed the show at the closing ceremony of the Athens Paralympic Games long before that. "After the fire of 'Thousand Hands Guanyin', the society learned that we are such a group of disabled partners, everyone's understanding of the disabled has improved, and all walks of life have more body care for special groups, which makes me very moved." Tai Lihua said that after that, many brands have also found art troupes, hoping that she will endorse products personally or in the group, "For us, we really need to pinch and weigh, what should be gained and what should be given." My partners and I decided that we would still have a quiet space to better achieve the goals in our hearts. So we gave up all commercial endorsement advertising. ”
Over the years, the China Disabled People's Art Troupe has been insisting on grassroots tours, and they have left their footprints in rural auditoriums, fields, and even many poor mountainous areas across the motherland. Tai Lihua recalled, "Once we went to Jiuquan to perform, there was no stage in the local area, so we performed on a shed built in the field. At that time, someone proposed that there was no need to change costumes when performing here, right? I insist that no matter where we perform, we have to dress up meticulously on stage. ”
Tai Lihua remembers that during that performance, the local audience came to the ground under black pressure, and some of them were still lying on the wall to watch. "After the noon performance, the local uncles and aunts used their large earthen pots and earthen stoves to cook a meal for us, and the dishes were served in basins as large as a washbasin, and we ate local steamed buns and Cabbage, which were particularly fragrant!" Tai Lihua said excitedly, "The local people may not have been out of the mountains in their lives, we do our part to bring them spiritual enjoyment, and they also give us simple feedback." Although the art troupe has visited 103 countries and regions, in our hearts, the best stage is always in the motherland, and bringing special art and warmth to our fathers and fellow villagers is the most important thing we should do. ”