On the evening of October 18th, the first performance of the "Shanghai Style Contemporary Art Season 2024 - Self-Defined Art · Young Power Stage" created by Lane 8, a trendy landmark in Shanghai and Shanghai, kicked off for the fourth time in conjunction with the China Shanghai International Arts Festival Center. At 7:30 p.m. on the same day, the immersive dance theater "Personality Gallery 3.0" was staged on time in the century-old Yingchuan Jilu, and invited the audience to embark on an artistic journey that is both real and illusory, both Chinese and Western.
In this issue of the Morning News, we · a thoughtful "Shanghai Meeting Room" program, we entered the century-old building to experience this unique and immersive Shanghai-style performance, and started a dialogue with the young artist Zheng Xiaofan.
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"Shanghai Meeting Room" program
"Personality Gallery 3.0" is originally produced and performed by the School of Arts of Shanghai Sport University, directed and choreographed by Zheng Xiaofan, a young artist and teacher of the School of Arts, written by Yang Fan, a young playwright and musician, and Professor Han Chunying, Dean of the School of Arts of Shanghai Sport University, as the producer and chief director, and dozens of teachers and students of Shangti participated in the production and performance of the play.
The audience receives a mysterious invitation
At the beginning of the performance, after an opening dance outside the Yingchuan Jilu Gate, the audience stepped into the Yingchuan Jilu Gate through a mysterious invitation letter and followed the guidance of the pipa sound in the patio, and entered a dance party across time and space, as if falling into the world of consciousness. As both a viewer and a person in the play, you can choose to follow the five characters of Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo and Chou, enter five different story lines, explore in the historical building with a unique sense of time and space, and unveil the "truth" veil to the subconscious world.
In this performance, the audience's five senses are fully mobilized in the unique historical architectural space, and with this multi-perspective, ultra-immersive, and deeply interactive gallery heart-seeking journey, the audience can deeply feel the trigger of philosophical thinking and the reshaping of inner strength.
Immersive Shanghai Dance Theater "Personality Gallery 3.0"
For the young artist Zheng Xiaofan and musician and screenwriter Yang Fan, from the modern and contemporary interpretation of the script "The Peony Pavilion· A Dream in the Garden" to the integration of Freud and Jung's psychoanalytic theories and personality theories, as well as the reconstruction and combination of the Shanghai International Standard Dance (hereinafter referred to as the national standard dance), it is hoped that more audiences can realize the different wonders of the creation of the crew and the national standard dancers. "I noticed that in previous years, the dance works shortlisted for the international arts festival mainly included ballet, modern dance, Chinese dance, etc., and this time the ballroom dance should be the first time." Zheng Xiaofan said.
Zheng Xiaofan (holding the microphone) introduced the work at the performance site
At the Yingchuan Jilu performance site, Zheng Xiaofan told reporters that the "Personality Gallery" series is the first experimental version she created in 2019 when she was studying at the University of Roehampton in London, United Kingdom, and was completed under the joint guidance of her mentor Erica · Stanton and Teacher Heiko. After returning to China, version 1.0 was shortlisted for the top ten in the country of Chengdu Luhu Drama Week in April 2023 and performed as a key recommended work, and in October 2023, version 2.0 was shortlisted for the Shanghai SMG Immersive Art Festival and performed.
Speaking about the shortlisting of this year's "Personality Gallery" series for the 23rd China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Zheng Xiaofan said:
Our work is first of all an attempt, experiment and bold breakthrough of ballroom dance on the creative stage. We hope that the art of ballroom dancing will not only shine on the competitive stage, but also stay in the form of more international and modern artworks for more people to see.
At the same time, as a Shanghai creator, we have integrated a lot of elements of Shanghai-style culture in the play, and we also hope that more audiences at home and abroad can see the excitement of our Shanghai culture and the excitement of China's Shanghai-style ballroom dance, and also hope that the audience will walk into our historical protected buildings, feel the accumulation of years, the blend between the old and the new, the collision between modernity and tradition, and see the spark between our youth and classical.
Dance at the Personality Gallery 3.0
"Personality Gallery 3.0" is a commissioned work of the "Supporting Young Artists Program" of this art festival, Zheng Xiaofan and the main creative team were finally shortlisted after many rounds of strict interview defense and art festival competition, Zheng Xiaofan said frankly:
This work is also the result and painstaking efforts of our main creative team of the School of Arts of Shanghai Sports University after many rounds of polishing, and we also feel that this opportunity and platform are not easy to come by. It is also of great significance to ballroom dancers, because this is also the first time that our ballroom dance has been shortlisted for the China Shanghai International Arts Festival.
On the evening of October 19, the teachers and students of the School of Arts of Shanghai Sport University who participated in the performance of "Personality Gallery 3.0" took a group photo
In the early morning of October 19th, after finishing the first performance of the previous night, Zheng Xiaofan shared in the circle of friends that "the premiere went smoothly, I am grateful, and we move forward together". Zheng Xiaofan told reporters with a smile that after this round of performances is over, she will send the wonderful tidbits of the Shanghai performance to the mentors who have helped her:
This time, including my tutor at the Beijing Dance Academy, Professor Zhang Ping, as the founder of the national ballroom dance discipline in China, he will come to the closing venue of our Jinchao Lane 8 to support and visit you in Shanghai. There are also many experts, teachers and colleagues at home and abroad in the industry who pay attention to our performances, and also hope that the literary and artistic creation of national ballroom dance can be seen by more people, and go higher, farther and stronger.
It is reported that "Shanghai Style Jinchao Art Season 2024 - Self-Customized Art · Youth Power Stage", as a performing arts brand co-created by Lane 8 and China Shanghai International Arts Festival Center, has built a historical building into an immersive theater for the first time through "Personality Gallery 3.0", providing the audience with a more immersive way to watch the drama, fully demonstrating the theme of "self-defined art breaks the boundary, and youth has no limitations".
From now until November 3, three consecutive weekends will bring 9 international blockbuster performances, in addition to this weekend will also perform 4 consecutive performances of the immersive Shanghai Dance Theater "Personality Gallery 3.0", followed by the France Epic Ancient Orchestra concert, the cross-cultural resonance of oriental drum music, the dance theater "Poetry Barong" (today's tide custom version), fantasy musical GALA and other rich performing arts will appear in turn, lighting up the "cultural lane" Jinchao 8 lane and the Bingang commercial center that will open in mid-to-late December "new and old resonance, Chinese and Western dialogue, Immersion Flow" >