On December 15, the 2022 version of the dance drama "Peacock" held a press conference at Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall. Before taking the stage, Yang Liping and the actors in the play communicated with the audience, chatting about the connotation of "Peacock" and their views on the controversy.
The dance drama is directed and directed by the famous dance artist Yang Liping as the chief choreographer and artistic director, the Oscar "Best Art Design Award" winner Tim Yip serves as the costume modeling, and musicians such as San Bao and Sa Dingding co-compose.
In the winter of 2022, when the dance drama was performed at the Qintai Grand Theater, there was a grand situation of "hard to get a ticket". This time, Yang Liping, as a special star, personally participated in the chapter of "Winter", showing the life state of the white peacock dancing in the snow and being reborn in Nirvana.
The scene of the press conference. Photo/Jiupai News Zhou Yuhe
[1] Participation: Yang Liping wants to lead young people to inherit the art of sparrows
"Peacock" premiered in 2012, with 2022 as the time node, divided into two versions, the old and the new, with the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter as the narrative vein.
In the spring, the peacock shows its blue feather coat and meets its partner in ignorance, in the summer, the crow escapes from its cage and longs to become a peacock and is jealous of the love between peacock lovers, in the autumn, the crow takes the feathers of the male peacock and causes the other to die naked, and in the winter, the female peacock grows old, experiences nirvana, talks to the gods, and finally gains freedom.
Yang Liping said that this dance drama has lasted for 10 years and interprets the theme of "life". Budding in spring, growing in summer, declining in autumn, and dying in winter are processes that everyone has to face. The peacock represents the Orient and is a beautiful image that is particularly suitable for physical expression. She said that this re-enactment of this version with new post-00s dancers is also an artistic inheritance.
In the dance drama, the blue peacock appears in the two chapters of "summer" and "autumn". Yang Liping believes that the blue peacock symbolizes bravery and strength, and represents the beautiful quality of pursuing love and ultimately sacrificing for love, "Many people hope that they can find true love, bravely accept beauty, and bravely face evil." ”
Talking about the "villain" character Crow in the dance drama, she said that the crow symbolizes the dark side of people's hearts, the constantly rotating time represents every minute and every second that people have to face every day, and the gods are everyone's desire for strength and help in the most difficult times.
Yang Liping as a female peacock. Photo/Wuhan Qintai Grand Theater
The white peacock played by Yang Liping symbolizes the perfect and beautiful natural image. The white peacock appears in the chapter of "Winter", which also shows the life problem he has to face, that is, "When life is coming to an end, how should I face death?"
"The problem of aging and death is something that everyone has to face. In the past few years, I have faced the death of many relatives and friends, life is so short, a butterfly may only live for two days, and a dragonfly has a short lifespan, so I think this dance is particularly meaningful. It looks like a dance drama, but it's actually about the philosophy of life. Yang Liping said.
In the question session, some audience members sighed that when Yang Liping starred in "The Spirit of the Sparrow", there was only a lonely peacock on the stage. But now on the stage of "Peacock", there are so many excellent dancers to inherit the peacock dance.
When asked why she chose to play a special role in the chapter of "Winter", Yang Liping replied that winter is the last scene of this dance drama, just like the last scene of old age, sickness and death in life.
[2] Responding to controversy: Harm will eventually exist, and there is no need to be afraid
Since June 2023, "Peacock" has been controversial due to the scale of the costumes of the male dancers in the play.
Some netizens intercepted the dance drama clip, questioning that the male dancer only tied a pair of flesh-colored dance shorts around his waist, and the rest was naked, criticizing "Peacock" as "inappropriate for children".
On June 15, Yang Liping said in an interview with the media that the controversial dance content is in line with the plot and is to restore the initial appearance of life, which happens to be the most technically difficult and her favorite part.
"The male peacock was lying on the female peacock's body, and netizens played a mosaic in the key parts, and then felt that the male peacock was completely naked, but it was not. She also said that the difficulty of this dance is that the dancers lack other decorations, and the actors need to use extreme body language to perform, which is a test of skills.
Screenshot of the dance drama that caused controversy at the beginning. Photo/Oriental Net
On December 15, when asked how she views public opinion, Yang Liping mentioned that she "rarely reads comments."
She believes that art is not preaching. "Time is spinning constantly, not preaching. If you have to put the clock there, it means that it is time, and there is no creativity. In fact, the peacock represents a kind of spiritual and natural beauty of life. The crow croaks (in the dance drama), which represents evil.
"There are also a lot of crows in our crowd, and our drama is about the dark side that may appear in the vast number of living beings, he slanders you, hurts you, and starts a war not only with swords, guns, and halberds, but also about the inner war. War is everywhere, harm is everywhere, beauty is everywhere, this is the world, this is the universe. ”
Q&A session with the audience. Photo/Jiupai News Zhou Yuhe
Yang Liping introduced that a particularly important prop in this dance drama is the birdcage. "The crow is restraining and wants to lock you in, and at the same time, maybe you are also restraining yourself, and you also have a cage in your heart, binding yourself and not being able to break free. In fact, the birdcage that comes from one's own heart is the most terrifying. ”
She said that those injuries are inevitable, "Everyone must understand this, don't be afraid, face it." ”
Jiupai News reporter Zhou Yuhe reported from Wuhan, Hubei
Edited by Wan Xuan Wu Di
Please contact the reporter on WeChat: linghaojizhe
[Source: Jiupai News]
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