Jinxing Dance Troupe is located in the deepest part of the Shanghai International Fashion Center in Yangpu District, facing the Huangpu River. Yangshupu Road in front of the fashion center, after a long transformation, the low and cluttered factory buildings are gone, showing unprecedented cleanliness and emptiness. The Venus Dance Troupe has never changed, and the rehearsal hall in the small building is connected to the office, without partition. Venus sat at the desk in the middle putting on makeup, and everyone could hear what she was saying.
Venus's interview time was precisely cut to the minute. When the time came, the assistant approached and shouted to stop, like a movie star during a road show. But unlike those stars, Venus speaks fast, thinks faster, and blurts out answers. Most importantly, there are never unspeakable questions.
Our regiment has a threshold
On November 3 and 4, the new work "Farewell" by Golden Star Dance Company premiered at Shanghai Young Theater, and then began a global tour. Change to say "global", perhaps with some exaggeration, Venus's "global" has no moisture, "Farewell" has European dancers, from the Paris branch of the Venus dance company established in 2020.
The 56-year-old Jin Xing puts 40% of his family life in Europe because of his German husband, "I can't stay idle, the dance company is also developing, the actors who have worked in the dance company for more than 10 years, I slowly bring them to Europe to make them grow faster." ”
This summer, the Golden Star Dance Company recruited 10 post-00s newcomers in Shanghai. More than 100 people signed up, and she used a week of assessment to select six men and four women, "I first look at the basic skills, dance skills, and then chat, see their understanding of dance styles, let them take classes with formal actors, and observe the ability to receive information." ”
Venus directs the actor
When he was young, Venus was a technical actor, and "how technology translates into unique forms of expression requires the ability to accept." In the past 3 years, students have been taking online classes, and their thirst for knowledge is strong, and the foundation needs to be slowly replenished. Dance must be practiced together every day, at least one and a half years of make-up classes. Our group has a threshold, and newcomers touch this threshold through time. ”
From August to October, after three months of intensive training for 10 newcomers, there was another round of survival of the fittest. Venus places particular emphasis on collective consciousness, "The company is a whole, our slogan – everyone is a solo dancer, everyone is a group dancer." The actors first serve the works of the Venus Dance Company. Only with high-quality performances can there be a high box office and continue to jump. In the process, they establish their own direction and decide to become actors, teach or create in the future. ”
Actors work with good directors
This past weekend, Jin Xing starred in the drama "Sunrise" in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, and the director and investor were herself. Next summer, her starring "Cherry Orchard," based on Chekhov's masterpiece, will premiere in Shanghai, "I'm getting older and have fewer and fewer opportunities to dance." But I wouldn't give up on the stage, so I founded the Mars Theater Society, which specializes in theater. In fact, as early as 1997, Jin Xing collaborated with director Tian Qinxin and actors Duan Yihong, Tu Songyan and Zhou Wenhong in the drama "Broken Wrist".
Venus invited Lithuanian director and Chekhov research expert Tuminas to be the director of "Cherry Orchard". She saw "Evgeny Onegin" directed by Tuminas at Shanghai Cultural Square, "Actors have to cooperate with good directors, Tuminas has high physical requirements, and physicality is my strength." ”
Tuminas suffered from cancer for nearly a decade and was unable to fly long distances. Venus takes the actors to European rehearsals. "In 2020, "Cherry Orchard" confirmed the co-starring of Russian, French actors and Chinese actors, and the theater was set, but the world came to a standstill. Now I am training a new group of actors through "Sunrise", and the premiere of "Cherry Orchard" will be an all-Chinese actor version. ”
In the new 50-minute dance work "Farewell", Jin Xing serves as the artistic director, "When I don't have creative inspiration, I take the best choreographers in the world and match the style of the Venus Dance Company and tailor the works. I choose the artist, I choose the style, I control the direction of development. ”
"Farewell" choreographer Moya Mackel collaborated with the Venus Dance Company on "Echo" in 2013. "Moya is a South African and dances in the world's major dance troupes. Her sense of power is something I don't have. She is passionate, another choreographer, David Hernandez, rational, and the two complement each other. Jin Xing introduced that "Farewell" was originally scheduled to premiere in February 2020, when the work was nearly 70% complete.
"Farewell"
"Farewell"
"Farewell"
"Farewell"
After a three-year delay, the choreographers remade "Farewell," which premiered this year with 50%-60% new content. The Paris branch dancers come from France, Italy, Australia and the United Kingdom. When the Chinese and foreign dancers are together, their creative ideas are expanded: Chinese emotional expression and subtle movement power, they listen to the teacher's words and express them as much as possible within the specified range; Foreign dancers are emotionally saturated and express directly. ”
Three years ago, Jin Xing watched "Farewell Expectedly" in China, "smooth and clear, but a little less moving." This time the choreography, Chinese and foreign dancers on the same stage, I suddenly found that the emotion became everyone. With 14 actors with different personalities, the audience finds their own shadow from each character. ”
Moya Michael and David Hernandez named the dance "Random Goodbye", and Venus named the Chinese "Farewell", "We don't know when we will see each other again, and life will come to an abrupt end." Unexpected farewells, sometimes surprises, sometimes you have to accept reality. ”
I didn't disappoint the audience
When I met Jin Xing, it was inevitable to talk about the current creative situation, she was willing to talk and dared to say, "There are too many dance dramas, one after another, "Only This Green Green" is popular, and classical themes are engaged in all parts of the country. Henan Satellite TV's court dance is on fire, and it is gorgeous again. The subject matter is so rich, why take the canoe bridge? Because others test the water first, insurance, will not make mistakes, then everyone does it. ”
In Jin Xing's view, dance drama without personality and character expression loses its soul, "the sense of form is enough to do enough, the picture is beautiful, but it loses the essence of the dance drama - there is no beautiful dance, no solo dance, pas de deux, and three-person dance can give the audience emotional expression, and there is no unique character vocabulary." As soon as the dancer's movements come out, it is necessary to give the audience the feeling that this is such and such a character, and now different characters are dancing the same dance. ”
Jin Xing saw Flamenco's Long Live Life, choreographed by Manuel Linan, at the Shanghai International Dance Center. "How good, how passionate, emotional explosion." Dance is not responsible for storytelling, the narrative is not as good as musicals, let alone talking dramas, dance is the expression and amplification of emotions. ”
Jin Xing once famously said, "Dancing doesn't make money, you have to rely on me to do variety shows to feed the dance troupe." "At present, the company has reached break-even by performing at the box office. Venus becomes a live broadcaster and invests in new works. "I didn't disappoint an audience that liked me or was curious. They didn't know what the theater was all about before, but they just bought tickets for Venus's name, entered the theater, and found that this hour and a half was valuable. We have cultivated an audience that will watch the Golden Star Dance Company perform repeatedly and pay attention to new productions every year. ”
Venus
"The style of our regiment will never be the same. When I encounter a new work, some content and pictures seem familiar. I would ask the choreographer if there were any other angles that changed and enlarged to make the dance more profound. Venus likes change, "If a work is similar in thought and content, I don't think it's valuable." ”
Venus is one of the few celebrities who admits to reading reviews, "I am more interested in the different opinions of the audience than by positive reviews." When we created ourselves, we never expected it to be so profound and expansive, and we did not expect that the audience would perceive it from a new perspective, which stimulated us to expand in the next work. ”
She was quick to comment, "I especially don't like to compare this work with that work, art creation is not comparable." Some people compare me with Yang Liping, we have different creative routes, she is engaged in ethnic folk dance, I dance modern dance. Her life is very 'fairy', I have to think about family chores, firewood, rice, oil and salt. ”
In 2019, the Golden Star Dance Company celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Shanghai Grand Theatre with a grand series of performances. From the Grand Theatre rehearsal hall to the Shanghai International Fashion Center, Jinxing's workplace has not changed, and his habits have not changed much. She still often watches plays, and can't help but comment after watching it.
Jin Xing likes Chen Peisi's "Shocking Dreams" and Nine People "Before the Court". "The expression of "Before Court" is old-fashioned, but the script, lines, and practical significance are particularly good. The content and characters of many dramas are not solid, and they can only play fancy with sound and light. I'd rather watch less fancy stuff and be more inspiring and shocking to the substance. Jin Xing is looking forward to the American Ballet Theater coming to Shanghai to perform "Giselle", "looking at the skills of the actors, watching the famous choreography." ”
Editor-in-chief: Shi Chenlu
Source: Author: Zhuge Yi