Twisting and striding, at the same time shaking his hands vigorously, expressionless around the field... A video that exploded on the Douyin platform half a month ago was a dance show with the theme of Ardor participating in the Tao Body Modern Dance Company's Infinite Walking.
In addition, the two actions that have set off a craze because of this show are jumping and walking while raising their hands high, and the other is lying on the ground and being dragged. These 3 alternative dance videos ignited the entire network as soon as they were sent. "What is this doing?" , "It's funny"... Various evaluations emerge in an endless stream, and even set off a "Ardor Split Imitation Contest" on the short video platform, and countless netizens are addicted to imitation. In the face of the voice of netizens "do not understand", Ardor accepted an exclusive interview with the Beijing News and chatted with us about the performance art of this unexpected out of the circle.
Three dance moves shared by Ardor
Beijing News: What opportunity did you participate in such a show?
Ardor: I met Tao Ye and Duan Ni, the founders of Tao Body, for a long time, and I had asked them to learn to dance before, but I ran away because I was too bitter. After escaping, I always felt embarrassed in my heart, and I thought about what chance I could participate in again. Their dance is actually very difficult, it is difficult for me to fully master, and I don't have time to practice. This show is a more basic, fun performance, in fact, there are other friends to play together, such as Hong Huang and Xiaohe, are their very good friends, so I also went.
Beijing News: Why did you choose to perform these three actions?
Ardor: Actually, I made 4 appearances, 4 moves. Everyone in this show is walking and expressing in a special way, everyone's actions are different, and they need to be specially arranged in advance: for example, whether the single walk is mainly jumping or turning, whether the double is mainly lifting or rotating, etc., all need to be arranged and matched. My 4 movements, two singles and two doubles, were negotiated by us together. In the single action, there is a happy mood in the performance of walking, and the pace of driving the pace with the sense of pleasure is to put yourself in the rhythm of the music and achieve a kind of coordination. There are passive and active types in the double action, and the passive type is like being pulled out, which pays attention to a cooperation. This kind of cooperation between the two is a confrontation and balance, independent and symbiotic relationship.
Courtesy of the artist
Beijing News: Do you laugh during rehearsals?
Ardor: During the live performance, neither the performers nor the admirers laughed, and they were immersed in the atmosphere. There was no laughing scene during the rehearsal, and everyone was very serious. Because the performance requirements of this show are still relatively high, if it is used as a play, the mood is not right. From emotions to limbs to rhythm and coordination, states are needed.
Beijing News: What do these 4 actions want to express?
Ardor: The text of the video is "all for the sister to flash away", I think this description is very cute, because the short video platform of Douyin does not need to be so serious. In fact, it is impossible for us to walk like this in our lives, and our hands cannot swing too much. But our hearts may want a lot of things to slip away, and it's a way of self-healing. Including the second "hoeing", in fact, these movements are not just superficial body movements, they express the emotions that you usually do not confide, but exist in your heart. This show is actually expressed in terms of the basics and decomposition movements of modern dance. In fact, everyone's limbs have different emotions, your big arms, small arms, your stomach and hands, and even your shoulders are emotional and need to be released.
If you have the opportunity to watch the overall performance live, you will find it very interesting. For example, actors with professional tao bodies, their entire face down, dragged by their legs, this is very passive, losing the right to choose. There are also actors who perform twitching while walking, it looks like they are suffering from a disease, in fact, many people in life are sick, but you don't know that they may be sick, maybe psychological, maybe emotional, maybe physical, who can see it when walking on the road? Our whole show is to release this hidden thing inside in the way of dancing limbs.
Ardor performs "Lying Flat". Courtesy of the artist
Beijing News: So everyone sees these dances and realizes different things.
Ardor: Yes, they are all different. Some people think this decompression, some people think it's funny, some people think it's art, and some people even think it's neurotic. Some art is not meant to be understood by all, and what is given to everyone must be made for everyone to understand. There are some things that are not meant for everyone to understand. For example, I do the music of the Sound Exploration Art series without a single lyric. The first song "Water Knows" and the second "Cicada Know", there will be others next, which are not for the public, it may be for the clouds, for bees and butterflies. I'm singing against everything, I'm not doing this for business, I'm not pleasing to everyone, there's always someone who needs it, someone gets it, the main thing is that I get what I want, and as long as someone outside of me gets it, it's a great thing.
Beijing News: What is the difference between expressing itself in song and expressing it in the body?
Ardor: I'm a dancer by birth, and I'm no stranger to physical expression. When I was a child, I once wrote a sentence, "Use dance to express joy and happiness, and use song to express sorrow." Later, when I grew up, I realized that there are actually many different levels, such as anger, such as wordless pity... When it is impossible to express it in words, it will try to use the body, and when the expression with the body is insufficient, it will try to express it with sound.
Beijing News: Is this out of the circle expected?
Ardor: Then no one knows, who knows... The Douyin platform is actually not my stage, after my assistant sent a video, suddenly, I began to appear on the major charts and hot searches. Many friends will also send me videos that netizens imitate me. In fact, in this show, my actions are not the most complicated or strange, but after being disassembled and taken out, it is completely different, and I feel funny when I watch it myself.
The hot topic about Ardor on Douyin is very out of the circle
Beijing News: Many netizens say they don't understand, what do you think?
Ardor: This art form is not originally an art form for the public, so everyone says they don't understand, I understand. And most of the netizens are very cute, although they do not understand, but may feel funny or confused, they imitate when they first say "Ardor teacher sorry", so polite, in fact, very happy. In addition to a small number of netizens who have made some demeaning and insulting remarks with personality, it is certainly not happy to see it. After all, what they see is not the whole picture, how to understand it can be, but because they do not understand or do not understand the bad language, I think it is not good.
Beijing News: Later, an imitation contest was set off on the Internet, did you watch it? What was particularly impressive?
Ardor: I didn't spend a lot of time learning about short video platforms before, and I always felt that it was another world. This time the accident out of the circle also made me look at the mobile phone for such a long time for such a long time, brushed for so long, and entered the world. I was particularly impressed by a fat girl who I thought danced better than I did, and although her figure was not thin, she was very light and flexible when she performed, and I felt that she was not being funny, but really dancing and having fun. A lot of people's imitations have added their own actions and expressions, and I feel that they have surpassed me, and they are very happy, so I am very happy to see it.
Screenshots of some of Ardor's imitation contests
Beijing News: Do you have anything to say to netizens who imitate themselves?
Ardor: Seeing everyone's imitation also brought me a lot of joy. My performance, if you like it, welcome everyone to interact with each other, and maybe this process will also bring me creative inspiration. At the same time, I also understand the well-intentioned incomprehension of some people.
Reporter Wu Qihan
Edited by Wu Qihan Proofreader Wang Xin