Lu Dajie, a non-hereditary inheritor of the national dragon dance, went abroad for the first time in his life, which was purely "picking up leaks". In 1994, he went to France to participate in the International Folk Art Festival for two months, and was the head coach of a dragon dance team in Shanghai and the "boss of the dragon".
In the early 1980s, the writer Gao Xiaosheng published a novel about peasants, "Chen Yisheng Goes to the City". At that time, it was a big thing for peasants to go to the city. At that time, Lu Dajie, one of thousands of peasants, was working farming in the fields of the Three Forests in Pudong. A peasant's going abroad really happened more than a decade later, and a vigorous dragon dance legend was handed down.
In the early 1980s, Sanlin resumed a happy and grand dragon dance. The left dancer is Lu Dajie when he was young
Go abroad grain and grass, heaven help people to help finally prepare
One summer day in 1994, Lu Dajie returned to Sanlin from the city and said to his wife, Xia Jiaping, "Someone invited me to go abroad. "The wife listened, and for a long time her mouth did not close—is it possible?"
At that time, the invitation to Lu Dajie was a folk art troupe organized by the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Literature and Literature, which was about to visit France. The reason for inviting him: "Without you, the main show Dragon Dance is empty." You don't go, the dragon dance is soulless. ”
Initially, he was not in the roster of people going abroad, and his task was: in a week or so, he trained a group of dragon dance masters and directly brought them into the dragon dance hall. When a dragon comes alive, he succeeds. He didn't have a single thought of luxury in his heart, only secretly thinking: If this dragon, which is full of Chinese cultural spirit, can dance in both form and god after a short training, it will create a miracle.
Miracles didn't happen. Without saying anything else, just talking about the core of the dragon - the dragon head that moves the whole body with one hair, how to accurately hold it, sway and flick with the beat of the music, is a difficult obstacle. If the soul is not there, the frame will fall apart. Everyone could see that the person who danced the dragon head was none other than Lu Dajie. As soon as he lifted the dragon head on the field, his passion and professionalism made the whole dragon come alive, full of creativity, imagination and joy. When another person came up, the dragon head shrugged and sluggish, and the dragon's tail was deflated like a sick look.
Lu Dajie's going abroad or not going abroad has become the focus. The difficulty in solving the problem lies in the fact that it is necessary to specially approve him as a non-staff member to be included in the register, and in a very short period of time, he will give him a green light to handle complicated procedures for going abroad; he must raise a "huge amount of money" to go abroad, 16,000 yuan. Li Tie, the head of the art troupe, frowned bitterly, "You were not originally a staff member, and you didn't have a budget." What to do? ”
16,000 yuan is an astronomical amount for the dragon dancer in his suburban county. If it is borne by him personally, he can only "look up to the sky and sigh". Even though his wife said to him, "I'm just going to borrow money everywhere and let you go abroad—what a rare, glorious thing!" ”
At the age of 45, he is already famous for his dragon dance in China, and he is blessed with a good opportunity to go abroad, but he is hesitant because of his shyness.
In 1991, the Sanlin Dragon Dance ceremony was held at the opening ceremony of the Nanpu Bridge
Heaven helpers. In order to ensure the high standard of the dragon dance of the art troupe, the green light is lit up for the dragon dance talents, and the city leader is a dragon dancer from a peasant background, with a special approval of 10,000 yuan. Visiting the dragon dance needs to "purchase" a colorful dragon, which is provided by Sanlin, and the dragon price is 3,000 yuan. The final "out-of-pocket part" is only 3,000 yuan.
That day, Lu Dajie returned to Sanlin. "Dajie is going to go abroad to dance dragons!" Villages and towns, cooking smoke, almost no one knows, look down and look up to see a smile, the township is close, happy. In the evening, three peasant entrepreneurs crowded to the door and rushed to fund the final cost of going abroad, and as a result, one family each recognized 1,000 yuan - Lu Dajie's grain and grass for going abroad were finally ready.
The country is falling into the city, and the Chinese dragon is alone in the world
In the mid-1990s, this colorful dragon from Shanghai Sanlin entered France and entered this country full of artistic atmosphere. This is also the first chinese folk art troupe to visit after the reform and opening up. Before the trip, they were told that they would travel to 28 cities across France, and in the more than 50 days of the International Folk Art Festival, they would perform dozens of performances on stage, more than 10 street performances, and perform on the same stage with art troupes from more than 20 other countries.
The dragon is the totem of auspiciousness in China, but in the eyes of some in Europe it is regarded as ominous and evil. So, when the Chinese dragon meets the most art-savvy humanistic audience in Europe, what kind of collision will it have?
The Sanlin people dance grass dragons in the cauliflower fields
At the grand international folk art festival, folk artists from all over the world have come up with their most distinctive and splendid art forms to show the profound historical and cultural heritage of their countries. The Dutch dance the wooden shoe dance, which embodies the harsh natural fighting. Maldivians dance the indigenous people hunting in animal skins. Accompanied by elegant and ancient bagpipes, the English gentlemen danced a collective dance in a dress in a plaid long skirt. One South Korean team danced a light fan dance, and another team played a high-spirited and cheerful North Korean drum. Turkish actors wear shiny armor in earthy yellow costumes and dance solemnly. It was the turn of the Chinese dragon to appear in a city in southern France, an ancient circular open-air stone seat theater with thousands of spectators. As the sun sets, our coloured dragons churn in with the accompaniment of traditional Chinese instrumental music, simple and gorgeous, high-pitched and vivid, rigid and soft, exuberant and jubilant.
Did the audience understand and understand the language of the dragon dance?
The dragon head is thrown, the dragon body is twisted, the dragon tail is swinging, the dragon head takes one step, the dragon tail moves three steps - people dance the dragon, the dragon churns, and the whole audience is together. A dragon, only more than a dozen dancers, but led the whole audience to stand up, like the waves of the sea, the body twisted, the arms waved, and the applause sounded. After the performance, the audience cheered and did not let go of the scene, and applauded to come again. Do it again, and do it again, until you can't move, you bow again and again, and you end up in a roar of admiration.
Not only was it a sensation, but within two months, every one of the dozens of scenes was enthusiastically pursued. China's dragon dance, the country fell into the city, subverted the cognition of many people. At international festivals, in today's language: thorough influencer. In each subsequent performance, the arrangement of appearances is either at the beginning of the grand ceremony or the finale of the blockbuster. A French international folk art expert commented on the dragon dance: "The art of the highest and most common people is breathtaking, conveying the joyful, masculine, witty and indomitable spirit of Chinese. Artists from Russia, Turkey and other countries who performed on the same stage have also become fans of Chinese dragons, imitating the dance posture of the dragon's body from time to time.
To this day, I ask the "general director of the dragon head": How do you view the "fall of the country" of the Chinese dragon in those years? Lu Dajie said that the dragon dance needs to be thick, and the jubilation contains hardships. As early as the mid-1960s, he worked as a farmer in Sanlin, Shanghai, cutting rice under the sun, 100 catties of rice, and carrying a load to the threshing ground. Sweaty, wet clothes, sun-dried and wet. Wearing a sunshade straw hat is already a luxury and happiness. One summer, I had to peel off three layers of skin. The clothes he wore were covered with patches. Even so, it could not stop his happy pursuit of the dragon dance handed down by his ancestors. At night, a dilapidated yellow lamp on the threshing field illuminated him and a group of young country boys, with their black and brown faces, naked backs, and strong legs, and beat the gong and beat the drum: bang, bang, bang bang A dragon, carrying a piece of the humanistic and historical spirit of the countryside, swims smoothly and happily in their hands and on their bodies.
Thousands of years of hard work have created the Chinese dragon dance.
The more tearful and sweaty folk art, the more it can obtain the resonance of the world.
Obsessed with inheritance, foreigners become dragon dancers
Lu Dajie, who was born a peasant, danced the Chinese dragon all the way into the colorful world, and the sky of the world echoed with applause and cheers.
In April 1996, the Shanghai Sanlin Dragon Dance Team led by Lu Dajie arrived in Liege, Belgium, to participate in the second Eurasian Dragon and Lion Championship and won the championship. The harvest is not only a trophy, but also a lot of local people sought after. Chinese dragons, dragon lanterns, Haipai dance style, gongs and drums are jubilant, colorful and fascinating. At the end of the competition, it was originally arranged for them to travel to various places, and the mayor of Liège City came to the door and asked, "Your dragon dance has touched the hearts of many of us." They want to learn Chinese dragons, let me ask, can they teach? ”
In 1996, the Sanlin Dragon Dance team participated in the Eurasian Dragon and Lion Championship and won the championship
Friendship, sincerity, divine intercourse, touching each other. It turned out that tens of millions of miles apart, the speech was incomprehensible, because a churning and dancing Chinese dragon, Asia and Europe, China and Belgium, Sanlin and Liege, were closely connected.
Lu Dajie also surrendered, "We don't go sightseeing anymore, teach for free." ”
A chorus of applause.
The Sanlin Dragon Dance Team teaches the first batch of "foreign apprentices" here. There are men, there are women, there are old men in their 60s, there are children who are only a few years old, and there are fathers and sons who go hand in hand with mother and daughter. The foreign apprentices recognized their Chinese masters and took them to their respective homes, where they ate, lived together, and studied closely. There were also jokes: the day was suddenly cold, the students were afraid of the teacher's freezing, took out their own clothes for the teacher to wear, there was appropriate, more inappropriate, not matching, wearing out to cause laughter; eating breakfast, students can not speak Chinese, they bought a book, the scene to see the picture to talk, what is strawberry jam, what is applesauce, and finally all the sauce is mixed together to eat. The place where dragon dances are learned, in the Chinese Mantis Fist Martial Arts Hall in Belgium, the curator is called Mane, who was a train dispatcher in Liege City, obsessed with Chinese martial arts, and studied martial arts at the Shaolin Temple in Henan for half a year. He said: "From now on, dragon dancing is my career. ”
After half a month of teaching, the teacher not only taught the students the skills of dragon dance, but also gave away all the costumes, utensils, gongs and drums, and musical instruments of the dragon dance. On the airport road to Brussels when they returned home, the apprentices drove dozens of small cars and followed the big bus of the Sanlin Dragon Dance Team, connecting into a farewell dragon. The airport broke up, the teacher and apprentice hugged each other, and they did not want to cry. On behalf of the disciples, Mane said: "We will train hard and sweat hard to repay the kindness of the masters." ”
The world's first foreign dragon dance team took off, participated in the International Dragon Dance Competition every year, and won the runner-up in one competition. Before the competition, the dragon dancers of Liege often come to Sanlin to stay for a few days, "sharpening knives and eating small stoves". The foreign dragon dance team went to Europe to tour, invited Lu Dajie to go, to France, to Italy, to the Netherlands, each tour, in addition to hanging the dragon dance team flag, but also raised a five-star red flag. Mane, who later became the vice president of the International Dragon and Lion Federation, will say at the beginning of the performance: "Please enjoy the wonderful dragon dance from traditional Chinese culture." ”
Shanghai Sanlin has infected many people in foreign countries with China's strongest culture and art. The mayor of Liège city invited Lu Dajie: "Come to Liege, you are a flag." Here, you will have countless apprentices. ”
The Miriyashi Dragon Dance in the Great Torii Gate in the Sea of Hiroshima, Japan
On that day, Lu Dajie and I walked together on the old street of Sanlin. In the parcel of the bustling city, Sanlin Town's white-walled Dewa, old houses, pure Shanghai township scene, in front of a clear Sanlintang River. When he was very young, he walked barefoot on the old street, which was not the cement road that is now flat, but the uneven bullet road. East Street to Middle Street, Middle Street to West Street, 3 miles back and forth, he came and went like a small fish swimming in the river. There is a temple on the east and west sides of the street, called the East City God Temple and the West City God Temple, and a Guandi Temple in the middle. Every year, there are lantern festivals, temple fairs, and street patrols where the city god lord celebrates his birthday, and the momentum is huge, and the song and dance programs are dazzling: swaying, picking flower baskets, stepping on stilts, watching umbrella lights. The finale of the street tour is Lu Dajie's favorite dragon dance, riding on his grandfather's shoulder blade, he will follow the dragon dance gong and drum and shout: "Bang Dong Gong ”
This is a sacred place for the origin of the dragon dance, giving Lu Dajie a direct and beautiful enlightenment.
Such a sanlin, how could he leave?
Spread the world and stir up ripples of joy
Some people say that dragon dancing is an art of sound and color, and it is the art of taking off. Some people also say that the dragon dance is the earliest "art of making music in suffering" that originated from the field and originated from farming. And this art, which embodies the traditional Chinese folk culture, once spread to the international community, set off endless ripples of joy. To this end, Lu Dajie said that he was just "very excited to think about it."
In 2000, China went to Strasbourg, France to participate in the European Exposition. China's participation in the exhibition, the Shanghai exhibition day, the relevant leaders of Shanghai to greet. The guest who came that day was the female mayor of the host Strasbourg. Before the guests arrived, the leader told Lu Dajie: Arrange the opening of the dragon dance, and the program will be 5 minutes. Because I don't know whether the other party accepts the Chinese dragon dance culture, if the finger on his back is shaken, it means that "the chicken to the duck is ineffective", and the dragon dance stops. I don't want the female mayor to be surprised at first when she sees the dragon dance, and then she is overjoyed, and even follows the dragon dance. In front of the Chinese pavilion, the dragon and lion surrounded the female mayor, and she and the Chinese dragon happily took pictures, and the dragon dance time was repeatedly extended. In her speech at the meeting, the female mayor took off the script "Saying Dragon": China's cultured dragon came to Strasbourg, "it makes the hearts of the people of Strasbourg and the hearts of the people of Shanghai dance together warmly." At the end of the theme show, the Chinese dragon danced again, and she was almost "drunk", and the translator on the side translated what she said: "I am going to pass out with happiness." ”
In the early autumn of the same year, the China Shenbo Performance Troupe visited Hanover, Germany, to participate in the local World Expo. The delegation was 27 people, the Sanlin Dragon Dance Team went to 9 people, and the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra was accompanied by music. German Chancellor Schroeder at the time went to the China Pavilion to watch the performance. At the end of the show, there is a dragon in Sanlin, under the command of Lu Dajie, dancing. The full set of dragon movements: swimming, discping, flipping, rolling, soaring, channeling, circling, and the performance are both thrilling and romantic, causing a thrilling cry. When the last dragon dance action was completed, a slogan spewed out from the dragon's mouth: "Welcome to Shanghai in 2010 to participate in the World Expo", which directly detonated the atmosphere in the field, all stood up, the applause could not stop, and the Chinese present burst into tears. The German Chancellor's thumbs up as he watched the whole time were "stilted high".
This dragon dance to the peasants of one country after another still sits in his "country head" in his Sanlin today. Sanlin is Lu Dajie's feng shui treasure land. A farmland threshing ground where he used to work is now his "Dragon and Lion Pavilion" in the town, which contains more than 70 gold medals and trophies in dragon dance that he has won at home and abroad, and foreign friends visit from time to time. The right side of the Dragon and Lion Pavilion, now in the town, is the granary of his former production team. He said that at that time, the young and middle-aged peasants in the production team worked for one day, and the maximum work score was 10 points, and one work was 7 cents.
Lu Dajie and his trophy
On the road of life, I have suffered and been tired, but I am bitter and willing, I am happy, and after the world has been turned upside down, there is gratitude.
"The more Sanlin, the more the world." This sentence is the true realization of Lu Dajie, who danced the dragon.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Wei Text Editor: Xu Yunqian Inscription Source: The photo of this article is provided by the author, the inscription is of a Chinese dragon leaping in Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
Source: Author: Zheng Xian