Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Jin Liwei
CCTV's Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Rabbit, the "Han Jin" dance section in the dance drama "Five Stars Out of the East" made a stunning appearance, showing the majestic momentum of the Great Han Dynasty, and reproducing the legendary charm of the legendary national treasure cultural relics brocade. On the stage, thousands of silk threads are constantly intertwined in the night sky of hanging stars and dazzling, and the first-class cultural relics and known as one of the greatest discoveries of Chinese archaeology in the 20th century, the "Five Stars Out of the East to Benefit China" brocade gauntlet, gradually appeared in front of everyone's eyes. Dressed in Han Dynasty dresses and wide long sleeves, the dancers danced between the silk threads, using unique modern aesthetic dance vocabulary to portray the unparalleled charm and precious value behind this national treasure in front of the audience.
"Five Stars Out of the East Benefit China" brocade guard, unearthed in 1995 in the Nya site in Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, is 18.5 cm long and 12.5 cm wide, with eight Chinese characters in the seal body: "Five Stars Out of the East to Benefit China", after thousands of years, the color is still as bright as ever. The "Five Stars Out of the East to Benefit China" brocade arm guard contains rich and precious history, humanities, art, aesthetics and other information thousands of years ago: the Chinese characters of "Five Stars" and "China" on the tapestry, ancient astronomical astrology symbolizing auspicious rui, ancient totems of rare beasts, and exquisite and valuable brocade weaving skills. After analysis and identification by textile archaeologists, it was determined that it was a five-fold plain warp brocade woven by five sets of warp threads and one set of weft threads, whether it was pattern color or weaving technology.
"Five Stars Out of the East" is based on the theme of the "Five Stars Out of the East to Benefit China" brocade arm guard unearthed at the site of Hetianiya, Xinjiang, telling the moving story of the Han Dynasty generals who were enshrined in the exquisite ancient city and Jiante, the son of the leader of the northerners, and Chunjun, the daughter of the leader of the elite leader, from saber rattling to hand in hand, from never knowing each other to deeply agreeing, forming a deep friendship, interpreting the theme of people of all ethnic groups "hugging together like pomegranate seeds" and forming a community with a shared future for the Chinese nation.
The "Hanjin" dance section on the Spring Festival Gala comes from a dance in the second half of the dance drama that dreams of returning to the prosperous era of Chang'an. Its creative conception comes from the interpretation of "China is a country of etiquette", from body movements, image temperament, formation scheduling, etc. are all around showing the temperament of a big country to complete the choreography, the dancers are hanging out, the steps are slow, suddenly and powerful, conveying the beauty of restrained and subtle, with a unique classical charm. The inspiration for the costume design of the "Han Jin" dance section is the Han Dynasty wooden figurines that the creators saw in the museum when they were collecting style, and the design fully refers to the Han Dynasty costume shape to present a romantic and elegant, simple and atmospheric Han aesthetic. The style is based on the curved robe with curved and straight lines, and the brocade edge is angled and spirals down with the curve of the woman's body, forming an interactive relationship with the simple and wide shape of the upper body, and the style is simple without losing fluidity and rhythm. The hem of the costume touches the ground, and the robe is tightly wrapped in a large area, without revealing the feet and the body, showing the magnificent and generous momentum without losing the elegant charm of the Han Dynasty court, highlighting the aesthetic interest of Confucianism with "harmony" as beauty. The dancer's styling and makeup are also based on the aesthetics of the Han Dynasty, and 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 eyebrows and red makeup". The large-scale use of vermilion covers the eyes and cheeks, solemn and very atmospheric, "long eyebrows into the sideburns", fully showing the woman's gentle and comfortable beauty, at the same time, the lip makeup of the Han Dynasty is beautiful with a small mouth, narrow and wide at the top, round and smooth, shaped like an inverted cherry, deeply restoring the cultural aesthetics of the Han Dynasty.
Compared with the theater performance, the "Hanjin" dance section of "Five Stars Out of the East" has undergone many adjustments on the Spring Festival evening to present the shocking beauty of Hanjin costumes more gorgeously under the capture of CCTV's high-definition details. In particular, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala stage has the blessing of 4K/8K, AI, XR and other new technologies, which gives a broader viewing vision to the presentation of the dance section, and the dancers and the stage are integrated. In the sleeve dance of the dancers, modern technology and ancient civilization intermingle, creating a dialogue between modern and historical time and space spanning thousands of years for the audience.
The dance drama "Five Stars Out of the East" is produced by the Propaganda Department of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Propaganda Department of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the Communist Party of China, jointly produced by Beijing Performing Arts Group, Beijing Municipal Headquarters for Aiding Xinjiang and the Propaganda Department of the Hotan Prefecture Committee, and performed by Beijing Opera and Dance Theater and Xinjiang Xinyu Song and Dance Troupe. Having recently won the 16th "Five Ones Project" Award and the 17th Wenhua Award, it will be held on February 17-19 at the Beijing Tianqiao Art Center for the first time after the award, followed by about 50 to 100 national tours.