Since mid-February, the gradual recovery of the performance market has once again been affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and this round of epidemic is undoubtedly the most serious challenge in the past two years of normalization prevention and control.
Recently, affected by the epidemic, many theater performances of the National Academy of Arts and local literary and art academies have pressed the pause button, and the performances of many theaters have been postponed or cancelled. However, for the literary and art academy troupe, the suspension of performances does not stop practicing, and the work does not stop. While doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, these literary and art academies and troupes regard the suspension of theater performances as an opportunity to cultivate artistic internal skills and polish their works, organize the cast and crew to use the current gap period to rehearse in different periods and divisions, practice basic skills hard, and strive to meet the audience with a new look and the best mental state when the time comes.
Just wait for everything to go as usual, and produce new works and masterpieces!
Live up to the times, and keep walking
--The National Academy of Arts is in action
Liu Miao
▲ On April 12, the 12th "Ballet Creative Workshop" of the National Ballet of China was successfully premiered at the Tianqiao Theater in Beijing. Photo by lu Xu, a reporter at this end
In the face of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, although there are many difficulties, the National Academy of Arts troupe is constantly moving, and everyone may practice behind closed doors and prepare new works; or recruit new people and expand the team; or cooperate extensively to expand business; or actively cross-border and explore innovation...
Although snow falls in the spring, it does not affect the recovery of all things. When it is expected that the epidemic situation in various places will be further controlled and the performances will gradually resume, in the expectations of the audience, the National Academy of Arts troupe is walking on the road with high spirits.
Practice actively
"One day without practicing hands and feet is slow, two days without practicing and losing half, and three days without practicing layman." Although the performance was suspended, the artists of the National Academy of Arts troupe did not slacken off, practicing vigorously and preparing for assessment, and did not lose their achievements.
In line with the principle of highlighting the key points, comprehensive improvement, classified guidance, and scientific training, and in various forms such as expert teaching, famous teachers passing on the art, special performances, repertoire displays, on-site observation, self-study, and post training, the National Peking Opera House concentrated on the "100-day intensive training" activity in the whole hospital from the beginning of March to the end of September, and comprehensively improved the professional skills and comprehensive quality of the cast and crew of the academy in the form of large-scale exercises, creative rehearsals and artistic practice.
The "100-day training" strengthens the training of basic skills and repertoire through the great exercises of actors and performers, and at the same time selects the training objects of leading actors and the training of actors and performers, tailors training plans for them, selects famous teachers inside and outside the academy to teach skills, selects suitable repertoire, and carries out targeted training in the way of dramas with talents.
The training of actors and performers is scientific, and the training of other disciplines is not far behind. According to the actual needs and future development of the growth of screenwriters, directors, composers, and other creative personnel, around the content and methods of key plays, rehearsals and performances of newly created plays, and adopt methods such as collecting styles, performance observation, seminars, and starlight lecture halls to improve their professional ability; through centralized teaching, self-study, post practice, etc., the personnel of administrative departments, Clerical personnel in business departments conduct training in official writing, etc., to improve administrative work ability.
According to reports, after the end of the "100-day training", the National Peking Opera House will adopt different methods for acceptance separately and classifiedly.
From April 7th to 8th, the China Opera and Dance Theater Symphony Orchestra successfully completed its annual business appraisal work. According to reports, the assessment mechanism of the Symphony Orchestra of the China Opera and Dance Theater has been continuously enriched and improved. This year, the assessment from the actual combat, for the first time in the form of a concert launched, the content of the assessment works spanned a number of artistic periods, Xia Xiaotang, Zhao Ruilin, Yuan Yuan, Zhang Mei, Guan Zhengyue 5 industry experts for the assessment situation, analysis and summary, and put forward valuable suggestions.
Recently, the China Coal Mine Cultural and Labor Troupe opened the prelude to the annual practice activities in the form of business exchange and sharing meetings. The four business branches of the folk orchestra, rap troupe, drama troupe and song and dance troupe displayed a total of 94 works. The cast and crew of each relevant department are both as spectators and judges, and for each program, they evaluate the actor skills, work processing, stage performance, etc., and each business sub-group strengthens the rehearsal, polishing and improving according to the opinions and suggestions.
Preparation of new works
The National Arts Academy has never forgotten the original intention of art for the people, while implementing the local epidemic prevention policy to cooperate with various epidemic prevention work, suspending performances; on the other hand, actively encouraging artists to create and prepare for the creation and rehearsal of new plays in the theater.
A few days ago, the National Drama Theatre of China's "Those Things in the Drum Tower" and "Literature and Art in the War of Resistance" and other plays are being created and rehearsed. It is worth mentioning that although the rehearsals were interrupted several times due to the epidemic, the National Drama Theatre's newly created play "Iron Flow Eastward" adapted from the People's Literature Award winner Ji Yu's novel "The Last Electric Wave" was finally successfully premiered. The first round of 6 performances sold out, and the theater immediately decided to add two more performances, which were also full.
Although the epidemic has slowed down the pace of artists on the stage, it cannot stop the efforts and diligence of artists. After planning and preparation, on April 15, the Offline performance of the China Symphony Orchestra, which had been stagnant for a month, finally resumed. Under the baton of permanent conductor Wang Linlin, the Choir of the China Symphony Orchestra deeply interpreted the first movement of Brahms's vocal masterpiece, the large-scale choral work "German Requiem", for the audience, and sang Brahms' classic works "Song of Love Round Dance" and "New Love Round Dance" for the audience in the form of quartets. In China, there are few concerts that fully interpret brahms's tomes of vocal works, and the confidence of the National Diplomatic Relations to challenge the artistic peak and achieve success stems from its strong professional strength and the team spirit of passing on the torch for many years, and behind all this is inseparable from the meticulous craftsmanship of every national diplomatic artist to treat every performance and every piece of repertoire.
While doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, the China Children's Art Theater began to prepare in advance for the subsequent performance plan, not only the main creators and related actors have not stopped the pace of creation and practice, using limited conditions for creation, practice, rehearsal and other work, at the same time, the theater is also actively researching among the audience and making performance arrangements. Not long ago, facing the heavy snow of spring in Beijing, the crew of the realistic children's drama "Xin'an Tour Group" of the China Children's Art Theater went to Huai'an, Jiangsu Province, to start the rehearsal work. According to reports, the play has nearly 20 main characters, played by adult actors from the theater and student actors from Xin'an Primary School in Huai'an City. After 3 days of closed isolation and 4 days of medical observation, on March 26, the artists of the China Children's Art Theater finally welcomed the lovely children of Xin'an Primary School. Vocal learning, physical training, line practice, theatrical performance... The 25 young actors and the main creators of the crew worked together to show the best works to a wide audience in the premiere on May 30.
On May 1, the Central Opera House Theater will officially open its doors. To celebrate the inauguration of the new theatre and its 70th anniversary, the Central Opera House has prepared a series of wonderful performances. In one month' time, the Central Opera House will present the audience with classic opera works such as "Turandot", "Road" and "La Traviata", as well as many theme concerts such as "The Voice of Love" Anti-epidemic Theme Concert, "Chinese Opera Aria Night - From Yan'an", "From Rossini to Puccini - Aria and Re-singing Concert" and so on.
After many days of preparation and careful rehearsal, on April 12, the 12th "Ballet Creative Workshop" of the National Ballet of China was successfully premiered at the Beijing Tianqiao Theater. With the theme of "1/12", this workshop brought to the audience 10 new and powerful works with different characteristics brought by the young creative talents of the National Ballet of China, whether it is the volume of works or the number of participants, they have set a record in the past, and the works with unique perspectives, novel techniques and sincere performances have won the affirmation and love of the audience.
On April 8th, the Central Chinese Orchestra and three conductors, Li Xincao, Lü Jia and Liu Sha, opened a special concert for the opening of the "Spring of Chinese Music", which opened the curtain for the first "Spring of Chinese Music" of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. The conductor's brilliant interpretation of the repertoire and the superb performance of the performer were well received by the audience. At the closing ceremony of the "Spring of Chinese Music" on April 28, the Central Chinese Orchestra will hold hands with Wu Yuxia, Chen Yin, Yang Jing, Zhang Qiang, Fan Wei, Zhao Cong and many other famous pipa players, and bring pipa classics and new works such as "Liu Qingniang", "Bloom", "Spring of Tianshan", "Dance of Music", "Swan" and "Spring and Autumn" in various forms such as ensembles, concertos and unison.
The China Coal Mine Cultural and Labor Troupe also attaches great importance to the long-term construction of its own brand and actively prepares for the epidemic. The "May Day" concert is a classic performance brand of China Coal Mine Cultural and Labor Troupe, founded in 1996. From April 27th to 28th, the China Coal Mine Cultural and Labor Troupe will perform the 21st "May Day" concert "Times Huazhang" at the Guotu Concert Hall in Beijing. The concert uses solo singing, recitation, lead performance, instrumental ensemble and other forms to interpret diversified national style music, sing the melody of the new era and the new journey, and present the audience with the praises of the times of the laborers.
Break the circle across borders
The suspension of offline performances has also allowed the National Arts Academy to think more about cross-border, integration and innovation.
On April 4, in the "2022 Qingming Fantastic Tour" produced by Henan Radio and Television Station, the dance "Longshang Treading Song Line" performed by the artists of the China Opera and Dance Theater quickly "broke the circle" and became a hot topic. In the program, the dancers are elegant and free, rigid and soft, with the foot on the ground as the beat, singing and dancing, showing the joy of labor and the joy of expecting a good harvest, and bringing a picture of the ancient people's song to life in front of people's eyes. Since "Long Shang Tread Song Line" is excerpted from the dance drama "Li Bai", many netizens said that they hope to see the style of the whole drama of "Li Bai".
The pace of the national tour of "Only This Green" has been suspended, but the pace of china Oriental Performing Arts Group's expansion and cooperation has not stopped. In order to practice the national policy of strengthening aesthetic education and art education dissemination, China Oriental Performing Arts Group has realized the national radiation of art education advantages through innovation and practice, and opened a new chapter in the new era of art education "Central Academy + Art Education City Cooperation".
In addition, in order to actively implement the "Opinions on Promoting the Cultural Industry to Empower Rural Revitalization" and strive to promote the development of the cultural industry to empower rural revitalization, China Oriental Performing Arts Group and Zhonghao Zhida Holding Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement a few days ago, the two sides will make full use of the professional and resource advantages of their respective industry fields, based on the new development stage, implement the new development concept, build a new development pattern, with the goal of "cultural industry empowering rural revitalization", in cultural tourism, industrial integration, art education, Carry out in-depth cooperation in digital innovation and other aspects.
Protect the drama with the merit of the drama with the drama
——Guangxi Drama Theater launched spring training and assessment
Guo Kaiqian
▲ Guangxi Theater Peking Opera Troupe actors conduct basic skills assessment Courtesy of Guangxi Theater
"What mirror do you get up in the morning?" Comb an oil head what flowers are fragrant? What kind of flower powder is rubbed on the face? What is the rouge at the mouth? On the stage, the "table flower" famous section in the Peking Opera "Selling Water" immersed the audience, which was Chen Hui, an actor of the Peking Opera Troupe of the Guangxi Drama Theater, who was conducting a professional figure assessment display. Only to see Chen Hui's calm breath, rounded singing voice, skillful body technique, and full of shapes and spirits, showing the calm and solid performance skills of a mature opera actor.
From April 15 to 17, various professionals of the four troupes of Guangxi Theater ushered in the 2022 annual professional assessment. On the afternoon of April 15, in the rehearsal hall of the Peking Opera Troupe, more than 30 opera performers carried out the assessment of basic skills, basic skills and basic knowledge. From walking on the stage, walking the round field to turning over, turning over in a string, stepping over and turning over to the skills of 32 knives, large knives and guns, double swords and sticks, from waist and leg skills to zi gong and blanket skills, from singing, reading, doing, hitting to hand-eye-body steps, from literary opera to martial arts... The actors wore uniform practice uniforms and demonstrated the various basic skills of Peking Opera one by one, reflecting the results of the hard work in the early stage.
On the same night, the Peking Opera Troupe also conducted an assessment of creative ability, and through the performance of self-selected opera fragments, it showed the artistic creativity and professional comprehensive ability of the actors.
The results of the annual assessment are directly related to the opportunities for actors to participate in this year's study, observation and participation, so everyone is waiting for it. "We have been preparing since the beginning of the year, practicing exercises, singing, and planning and preparing self-selected programs." Chen Hui, as the focus of the Peking Opera Troupe, focuses on Hua Dan and Dao Ma Dan. In addition to the "Selling Water" that shows the singing skills and literary drama, she also prepared excerpts from "Yangmen Female General" that shows the basic skills of Dao Ma Dan. Since she also undertook a number of key rehearsals and performances in the theater, Chen Hui was busy rehearsing while preparing for the assessment. During this time, as soon as she had free time, she drilled into the rehearsal hall and had almost no time to rest.
"Basic skills are the entry threshold and passing line of an opera actor, and if the basic skills are not passed, then the actor can do nothing on the stage." Xie Dexing, deputy director of the Peking Opera Art Department of Guangxi Drama Theater, is responsible for the assessment work. Guangxi Drama Theater grasps the field and learning status of each actor through annual assessment, and explores potential young actors from them for key training. Therefore, the professional assessment of opera actors in Guangxi Drama Theater covers four aspects: basic skills, basic knowledge and creative ability. The first two focus on the "four skills and five methods" of opera to examine the basic skills of actors and the skills of their own trades, and also assess the knowledge of actors in drama, trades and art majors. In addition, good opera actors also need to have a certain understanding and expressiveness of the role and script, so the assessment of creative ability is the ultimate embodiment of the professional ability of opera actors, and it is also the basic guarantee for the professional level of Guangxi Drama Theater.
In addition to opera actors, professionals such as lighting, props, and choreographers also have assessment tasks. This year, the Guangxi Drama Theater took the annual drama "The Little Carpenter's Piano Dream" as the title, and the professionals should carry out the relevant design display of composition, choreography, props and other related designs around the play, which has both practical significance and comprehensively examines their professional ability.
As the saying goes, "one day do not practice to know, two days do not practice peers to know, three days do not practice the audience to know." The wonderful performance of the actors on the stage comes from decades of hard work under the stage. In March, the Guangxi Drama Theater launched a training camp for more than half a month. Every morning at 8 o'clock, all the actors gather in the rehearsal hall to uniformly train the basic skills and performance skills. This is also the normal work of Guangxi Drama Theater every year, and it is the basis for ensuring the normal production and performance of the repertoire.
"Every year, there is a systematic management and scientific training program." According to Xie Dexing, the Guangxi Drama Theater training is generally divided into three stages. The first stage is mainly based on restorative training, through concentrated basic skills training, increasing the strength of the actors. The second stage is to strengthen the training of related projects according to the status of the actors. The third stage is to increase the merit, allowing the actors to use their skills and abilities to the extreme.
"There is a saying in the opera world that 'protects the drama with merit, and brings merit with drama'. Especially in traditional drama, the success of the repertoire is closely related to the basic skill level of the actor. The vice president of the Guangxi Theater thanked him and said that this year the Guangxi Theater has undertaken a number of major performance tasks, and only by laying the basic skills well can we provide strong support for the subsequent performances. Although the current new crown pneumonia epidemic is repeated, many performance tasks have been suspended, but the Guangxi Theater has stopped practicing, making full use of the time of spring training and assessment to practice internal skills, and urge actors to improve their business and continuously improve.
"During the training camp, when we train together every day and prepare to create a competency assessment program, we often have to play and play with each other, which provides a good opportunity for actors to communicate and learn from each other." Although the training does not have a special arrangement for teacher training, over the years, the Guangxi Drama Theater has formed a good atmosphere of bringing the old to the new, so everyone has benefited a lot in the training and finally achieved common progress. Chen Hui said that this is also a tradition of "passing on the help" of the Guangxi Drama Theater.
It's time for spring practice
——Shandong Song and Dance Theater strengthens the training of young artistic talents
Su Rui
▲ Shandong Song and Dance Theater Spring Practice Assessment Site Shandong Song and Dance Theater Courtesy of Shandong Song and Dance Theater
April 17 is Sunday. At No. 123 Wenhua West Road, Jinan City, Shandong Province, passers-by at the door were attracted by the music in the courtyard and looked sideways. This is the Shandong Song and Dance Theater, and more than a dozen actors did not rest on the weekend, but met in the rehearsal hall to discuss the details of a new show.
Some actors told reporters that because the Shandong Song and Dance Theater has attached importance to basic skills training in recent years and established relevant mechanisms for this purpose, the enthusiasm of the performers is very high. During weekdays, as long as there are no important performances, the limited rehearsal hall in the courtyard is basically "full from morning to night" and "cannot be lined up". Therefore, some actors choose to work overtime on weekends and use the rehearsal hall in the courtyard for training.
Since the end of March, due to the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, various performance activities of Shandong Song and Dance Theater have pressed the pause button. Although the performance was postponed, the work did not stop there. The foreign affairs performance activities of Shandong Song and Dance Theater were changed to online broadcasting, and the troupes stopped performing and practiced non-stop, practicing internal skills, rehearsing repertoire, and carefully polishing new works. In order to avoid gathering, each group rehearsed in an orderly manner in different venues such as rehearsal halls and concert halls.
Literary and artistic creation must adhere to the direction of advanced culture and profoundly understand the law of socialist literary and artistic development.
After the Spring Festival this year, Shandong Song and Dance Theater pays attention to the normalization of organizational life, with the party committee of the academy as the core, the branches as the support, and the promotion of business work to carry out distinctive learning activities. Combined with the key work of each period, innovative forms, through the observation and discussion of red theme plays, theoretical center group study, branch study, youth theoretical study group study and other ways to improve the participation and enthusiasm of all party members and cadres. Through activities such as morality lectures, volunteer services, family style inheritance, publicity and education, etc., the quality and cultivation of party members are comprehensively improved, and at the same time, a strong spiritual motivation is provided for the development of business work.
Zhang Jiqiang, secretary of the party committee and president of the Shandong Song and Dance Theater, believes that in order to maintain the good trend of sustained prosperity and development of the literary and artistic undertakings of the Shandong Song and Dance Theater, it is necessary to "gather the world's talents and use them" with greater efforts to strengthen the construction of the cadre contingent and the contingent of talents.
On March 25, a serious and tense "performance" was taking place at the concert hall of Shandong Song and Dance Theatre. This day is the day when the new recruits of the hospital are regularized. At the scene, new employees from the Symphony Orchestra, Chinese Orchestra, Choir and Creation Center reported in combination with their own positions, which not only demonstrated their solid business capabilities, but also showed the rapid growth of young artistic talents such as "Xingyao Empowerment" in Shandong Song and Dance Theater since they joined the company.
Zhang Jiqiang instructed new employees at the scene: "There is a probationary period for work, there is no terminal station in the career, we must strive to enrich ourselves, enrich ourselves, find our own gaps in the work, establish the concept of lifelong learning, and continuously improve professional skills and professional qualities." Work has a positive day, the pursuit of endless days, to constantly improve themselves, better adapt to the needs of work. ”
In 2021, with the strong support of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Government, and the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Shandong Song and Dance Theater has once again openly recruited young artistic talents after more than ten years, and the situation of the lack of young artistic talents and insufficient reserve talents in the whole hospital has been effectively improved. At the same time, young artistic talents also lack artistic practice and lack the guidance of higher-level artistic masters, which seriously restricts the overall growth of young artistic talents.
It is understood that this year, the Shandong Song and Dance Theater plans to continue to improve the mechanism for young artistic talents, create good conditions and atmosphere conducive to the growth of young artistic talents, and encourage young artistic talents to continuously improve their artistic level with the demonstration and guiding role of top talents. In addition, we will continue to select young artistic talents, pair up with artists with the national first-class level, and give full play to the advantages of well-known artists with high artistic level, rich stage experience, extensive social influence, and familiarity with the laws of artistic development, so as to promote the growth of young artistic talents.
"Taking advantage of this precious time in the spring, the whole hospital is rising a 'brainstorming', everyone in the construction of reserve talents, top-notch talent training, literary and artistic works creation and the market-oriented survival of the academy and troupe, etc., plan to build a scientific and standardized, strict and strict professional college and troupe management system, plan a series of programs suitable for the performing arts market, and launch a performing arts own brand." Zhang Jiqiang introduced that spring is a good season for literary and art workers to practice. Through concentrated practice in the spring, the Shandong Song and Dance Theater hopes to create a good atmosphere of more respect and cherishing talents and focusing on cultivating talents throughout the hospital; to create a good trend of learning, knowledge, ability, and contribution; and to form a good situation in which everyone works hard and works hard, everyone strives to make progress, and everyone learns to catch up with and help, and competes to become talents.
April 19, 2022 China Culture Daily
Special reports were published on the 5th edition
"Practice Internal Skills, Strengthen Literacy, Cultivate Artistic Virtue."
——The literary and art academy troupe stops performing and does not stop practicing, and the assessment promotes internal skills"
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue