Let the "thrilling" acrobatics
Better in the expression of "good life".
- Inner Mongolia Art Theater
After watching the acrobatic drama "Our Beautiful Life".
Yu Ping
Consultant of the Chinese Literature and Art Critics Association
Special critic of Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles
Acrobatics is an ancient art, and since ancient times, it has been an art that amazes and amazes people with all kinds of "thrilling" tricks. About 20 years ago, the Guangzhou Military Region Warrior Acrobatic Troupe created the acrobatic drama "Swan Lake" (chief director Zhao Ming), the "dramatization" of acrobatic art has become the artistic pursuit of many acrobatic groups. In all fairness, it is not easy for the acrobatic arts, which are characterized by "thrilling" performances, to truly achieve the "dramatization" of clear dramatic actions, reasonable dramatic conflicts, distinctive dramatic personalities, and full dramatic situations. One of the important reasons for this is that when we call this form of drama "acrobatic drama", it means that our cognition often starts from those unique activities that seem to be "numerous", but in fact have been "solidified"—the "formal thinking" of the so-called "acrobatic ontology" and the "image thinking" of drama art will inevitably collide fiercely in this process. As the chief director of the acrobatic drama "Our Beautiful Life", He Yanmin wrote after nearly two and a half years of running in with the Inner Mongolia Art Theater Acrobatic Troupe: "In the creation of this acrobatic drama, we will not let the work be mediocre for the sake of 'insurance'. In order to break through the transition from acrobatic techniques to verbal expression, we experimented with a variety of methods, with the aim of creating good works for the audience. ”
Why does He Yanmin place special emphasis on "the transformation of acrobatic technology into language expression"? Because this is actually the key to the "dramatization" of acrobatic art. There is no doubt that it is impossible to create a stage play for an acrobatic troupe without making use of the strengths of acrobatic skills; But if you don't want to make the work "mediocre", first of all, you must make the plot not become a "vassal" of acrobatic technology. The acrobatic drama "Our Beautiful Life" is a realistic stage play about the theme of rural revitalization, and because of the "verbal expression" to dominate the "acrobatic technology", I prefer to call this stage play a "contemporary variety show". The "synopsis" in the house catalogue reads: "Nandi, a graduate student studying embroidery design and craft at the Academy of Fine Arts, is about to graduate. In order to perfect her graduation project, she summoned Gacha (village) to ask Eji (mother), who is the inheritor of traditional embroidery, for advice before returning to her hometown. But there are conflicts between mother and daughter because of the different inheritance concepts. At the same time, Nandi, who returns to her hometown, meets Xinhu, a high school classmate who has served as the secretary of Gacha. Two young people with ideals joined hands with the villagers to establish an embroidery inheritance base, making Qianzhao Gacha an Internet celebrity village and a tourist village with embroidery processing as the leading industry - the connection between the small village and the big world is close, and Nandi and Xinhu have also sprouted beautiful love in the process of creating a better life together......"
The play begins with Nandy preparing to return to her hometown. She was packing her bags in the school building - in a thin laptop, "magically" taking out thick professional books one by one; From time to time, she also shows some happy poses, which of course let the audience know that non-professional "jiu-jitsu" actors can't do it. Of course, this opening is not just to get straight to the point and let the audience "open to see the skills", but to let the urbanites as the basic audience follow her itinerary into the beautiful life of our countryside...... In the process of packing up, Nandy receives a call from Eji; Of course, this is not only to let the audience understand the eagerness of their hometown, but as the plot unfolds, we also see that this kind of monologue, dialogue and narration lines are the organic composition of the play's structure of character relationships, the promotion of dramatic action, and the expression of a better life - it is not only in this stage play with acrobatic technology as the main means of expression "noisy", but it is the organic connection, organic transformation, and organic evolution of this means that makes the drama "icing on the cake".
Obviously, Nandy is the female lead of the play, and the female lead is the core to structure the relationship between the characters and promote the dramatic action, which is an effective form of composition in the art of dance drama. The chief director of the play, He Yanmin, is actually an excellent choreographer, and the dance drama "Cavalry" in which she served as the chief director won the 12th Chinese Dance "Lotus Award" Dance Drama Award and the 17th Wenhua Award of the Chinese Culture and Art Government Award. In her opinion, acrobatic drama and dance drama have one thing in common, that is, they are mainly expressed by human body language; However, the bottleneck of the current improvement of acrobatic drama lies in the breakthrough of "the transformation of acrobatic technology to language expression". Although the whole play is full of monologues, dialogues, narrations and other lines, He Yanmin knows that the key to "language expression transformation" lies in "language situation creation" - so we follow Nandi's footsteps into meaningful, interesting and meaningful situations......
The first scenario, of course, is to return to the homeland grassland. Back in her hometown, Nandi first met Eji and Abba; But what is more important here is that I unexpectedly met old classmates, new secretaries and new calls. Of course, the "language expression transformation" of acrobatic technology in this context first focuses on the "daily life" of the grassland: the mischievous lamb "tao" in the "trampoline flip"; The labor of "sheep shearing" is to pave the way for turning "wool" into "wool" in seconds and "colored thread" (magic) in seconds; When the "color line" is formed into a "ball of thread", "shaking the bamboo" is converted into the language of "ball of line...... Although Nandi met Xinhu in the context of "Hometown Grassland", the "unexpected encounter" between Xinhu and Nandi was actually "intentional" by the director - so the director made the weather of the grassland "change as he says", and let the herdsmen who shelter from the rain use the poncho in their hands to create a space for the two to have a dialogue with the thunder of the raindrops; The two talked about the "township-run enterprises" that are the starting point of rural revitalization, and the cultural tourism opportunities of the rural "Naadam...... But obviously, the director is not in a hurry to cut into the situation of "Naadam", which is extremely expressive about acrobatic techniques; When Xinhu hurriedly ran away, Nandy noticed that it was Eji who was holding the umbrella for herself......
Nandy returns to her home on the grassland with Eji, and we enter the second situation created by the director. If the unexpected encounter between Nandi and Xinhu in the first scenario is the inevitability of accidentally integrating into a specific event in rural revitalization, then the second scenario of the dialogue between Nandi and Eji related to this specific event is to make the dramatic action of the play appear a little twist and turn - this cognitive difference that seems to be "conservative" or "innovative" is actually a "generation gap" that inevitably exists in most families. In this context, the consideration of acrobatic techniques is mainly to use magic techniques to add beauty to the traditional embroidery of Eji on Mongolian robes; And this kind of magic is actually a "language" that causes the contradiction of the "generation gap...... Between Eji's stubborn "Shoucheng" and Nandi's "innovation", an acrobatic technique based on "language" brings us a new image—in the face of Eji's incomprehension, Nandi is also in a state of incomprehension; She helplessly played with the three "embroidered supports" in her hands, and the interlocking "embroidered supports" were like her own inexplicable mood, trapped in her "jiu-jitsu" body...... At this time, the rings and rolling rings in the air are rapidly churning and rotating in the coordination of the stage set, and the performers are like the projection of Nandi's mental image, expanding the "generation gap" between her "multiple bodies" and Eji......
Following the invitation of the secretary of the previous situation, Nandi came to the grand event "Naadam" held by Gacha. Whether it is a dance drama or an acrobatic drama, "Naadam" is a good place to "dance", and it is also a good situation for acrobatics. As the third scenario of the play, Mongolian wrestling, archery, horse lassing and other super displays known as the "three arts of men" followed; In particular, the set horse is a "style" presentation of the acrobatic "drill ring" technique...... The "amorous" presentation of acrobatic techniques is not a technique for the sake of technology, but the "language" function it highlights makes Xinhu stand out in Mongolian-style wrestling and horse sets. In such a grand event, Eji and the embroidery performance team led by her were also invited to show, of course, this is more of a "language" to create a situation, and it is the development of the dramatic conflict of the play. However, the development of the drama action has to focus on Nandi and Xinhu - when the two walk together on the way back to the village, passing by the moonlit river, Nandi confides in Xinhu about her differences with Eji; Xinhu deliberately diverted the topic, taking Nandy to walk through the small river that she had to wade through every day when she was in middle school, and the women's group "turned" to lay out the "Sarilang Flowers" by the river; The bicycle pushed by Xinhu is also reflected as an emotional "language" in the "tandem riding skills" with Nandi - the two of them unconsciously opened another "good life" in the cohesion of the "good life" in the countryside, and at this time, the performance of "High Sky Weiya" is like the ups and downs of this mood......
The fourth situation created by the play is to go out to visit and study. Although the focus is on the mare's milk distillery in the neighboring village, although it also appropriately demonstrates the technology of "wheelbarrow" and "top flower bed", it is more important to show the cognitive improvement and concept transformation of Xinhu and Nandi...... The two of them marched on the sun-drenched grassland, and the acrobatic "stepping on the tube" turned into a "grass roll", and the throwing of the "straw hat" also showed that it was adapted to local conditions; In fact, more importantly, all this symbolizes the rapid operation of the cognition of the two and the novelty of their concepts...... Perhaps to further express the intimacy of the two people's affection, the director designed a very beautiful "Swan Dance", and the "standing silk" and "silk hanging" skills presented at the same time also have the meaning of sublimating "dance" at this time - because they always pursue "language expression transformation".
The fifth to seventh scenarios of the play are, in the author's opinion, a unified and deepening situation. In the fifth scenario, the construction of the "embroidery inheritance research and production base" in the former Zhao Gacha is the main event, and in the acrobatic performances such as "cutting bricks", "high crutches", "high poles" and "middle flags", the "cutting bricks" closely combined with the production events are particularly exciting. The sixth scenario is that when the production base is topped out, Nandi and Eji reconcile in good faith - Nandi's graduation thesis has a solid argument, and his hometown Qianzhao Gacha also has a bright future. This naturally leads to the seventh scenario - the former summoning Gacha to entertain the first guests who come to travel. Due to the blessing of traditional embroidery cultural products, the rural revitalization here has the connotation of the integration of culture and tourism, and the integration of poetry and distance. It should be noted that in the hospitality to tourists, the show's "High Car Flying Bowl" program, as the finale of the "big skill", is actually the most famous brand of the Inner Mongolia Art Theater Acrobatic Troupe - among them, "Four People Kicking the Bowl" won the gold medal of the 13th French "Tomorrow" International Circus Art Festival; "Five People Kicking Bowl" won the gold medal of the "Golden Lion Award" in the 6th National Acrobatics Competition; "Six Kicking Bowl" won the Golden Bear Award at the 12th Udmurt International Acrobatic Art Festival. Tana, the current head of the acrobatic troupe and the producer of the show, is the founding performer of the "Four Kicking Bowls" program, and has continued and promoted the development of the "Five Players Kicking Bowls" and "Six Kicking Bowls" programs since then. It is precisely because of the sincere cooperation between producer Tana and chief director He Yanmin, and the dedication of the entire cast and crew that "Our Beautiful Life" is presented to us in the form of a beautiful "contemporary variety show". In my opinion, this is an excellent work of "acrobatic drama" that expresses the daily nature by the abnormal, the imagery by the skill, the amorous nature by the thrilling, and the language by the control of things. We believe that the main creators of the play will sing as the theme song of the play: "There will be no end to the pace of dreaming, holding hands towards a new life, to depict the most beautiful tomorrow in my hometown!" ”
(The pictures are all stills from the acrobatic drama "Our Beautiful Life", provided by the Inner Mongolia Art Theater)