As the title says, if I can only recommend one work to others in my life, there is no doubt that it must be the ballet "Red Detachment of Women"!
In my mind, "Red Detachment of Women" is a well-deserved king of dance drama, a national treasure, a model of Chinese and foreign integration, and the peak of modern ballet! This work skillfully combines the techniques of Western ballet with the revolutionary theme with chinese characteristics, which can be said to greatly subvert the previous people's inherent cognition of ballet and revolutionary themes, make people awe-inspired by the creative ability of Chinese artists, and also be proud of the strong vitality and tolerance of Chinese national culture.
Ballet as a real "imported product", many people talk about ballet, the mind must be thinking, under the romantic and beautiful music, the actors tiptoe dancing, in the magnificent set, telling the love story of the prince and the princess. The pearls swirl around the stars, the flowers and dragons and snakes move, and the fluffy ballet gauze skirt gently swings with the actor's rotation and jump, like a lotus blooming, like a lake rippling, dreamy and ethereal, gripping.
And what about the model play that thinks of revolutionary themes? Gray fabric, hemp shoes, red flag in the left hand, and "Wei Guangzheng" with the slogan of the right hand, the hero of the heroic charge, invincible and even able to tear the devil by hand! One of these two is "Yangchun White Snow" and the other is "Lower Riba People", eight rods can't be hit, how can they get together?
And "Red Detachment of Women" not only fused them together, but also fused very well! Exquisite conception, finishing music, and magnificent group dance make this dance drama not only have revolutionary educational significance, but also have a high degree of artistry! "Red Detachment of Women" broadens the breadth of traditional ballet, enriches the theme of ballet, and lets everyone see what is called "the national is the world", which is not only a landmark work in the history of Chinese art, but also a bright pearl in the world dance art!
In my opinion, the biggest charm of "The Red Detachment of Women" is its uniqueness unlike any previous ballet work! Its reform of Western ballet is comprehensive, including themes, music, sets, dance moves, ways of advancing the story, etc., specifically the following points:
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > a new theme and a new way of telling</h1>
The theme of classical Western ballet is mainly love stories and fairy tales, such as the well-known "Swan Lake", "Sleeping Beauty", "Nutcracker", etc., which is related to the birth of classical ballet in the Western court. At the same time, in the development process of classical ballet, it is greatly influenced by mime, because there are only body movements in the whole process, so in order to facilitate the audience's understanding, the character image of classical ballet is usually relatively thin, and the story is relatively simple. The princes are all handsome and brave, the princesses are beautiful and kind, and in the end the prince defeats the vicious villain, saves the princess, and lives happily with her...
The "Red Detachment of Women" tells the story of Qionghua, a poor girl who was tortured by the landlord Nanba Tianjia, who escaped from the tiger's mouth, joined the Girl Scout Army, and finally defeated the landlord and liberated the villagers. This theme, which was unique before "The Red Detachment of Women", can be said to be a groundbreaking innovation! Such a unique performance not only made the domestic audience refreshed, but also amazed the foreign audience who were accustomed to classical ballet. "The Red Detachment of Women" has toured overseas many times, and each time it has been well received, and the famous Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso once praised: "For the first time in the history of ballet, there is a toe dance with a knife and a gun, you are so amazing!" ”
New themes will inevitably bring new ways of telling, and the most intuitive difference is that there are more scenes. Traditional ballet is usually three or four acts, but "The Red Detachment of Women" has six acts, plus a prologue and a cutscene! The story told is also much more complex.
In the prologue, the heroine Qionghua is hung from a tree and beaten, and qionghua, who has been tortured, struggles hard and finally escapes from the home of the landlord Nan Batian with the help of other yakuza. In the first act, it is soon a small turn, Qionghua is caught again, and is beaten again, Nan Batian mistakenly thinks that Qionghua who fainted in pain is dead, and leads the servants back to the house and abandons Qionghua in the wild. At the end of the first act, the wind and rain are thick and the thunder is loud, and Qionghua, who is awakened by the rain, meets Hong Changqing, the representative of the Niangzi Army, who is out on a mission, and Changqing guides Qionghua to defect to the Niangzi Army, and gives her all the money on her body, which makes Qionghua greatly moved.
The next story is naturally that Qionghua joined the Girl Scout Army, and then attacked back to the old nest of Nan Batian, ushering in a happy ending? No, it's not that simple!
In the third act, Hong Changqing disguises himself as a wealthy overseas Chinese businessman and goes to Nanba Tianjia to celebrate his birthday, planning to destroy the enemy with the women's army, but Qionghua, who has little combat experience, is furious in the face of the enemy who is close at hand, and despite the persuasion of his teammates, he shoots at Nanbatian in advance, resulting in the failure of the operation and the escape of Nanbatian.
In the fourth act, the remorseful Qionghua, under the education of the company commander, understands the importance of "discipline", and even more understands that under the great goal of liberating all Of China, she must temporarily put aside her personal grievances! At this point, it can be seen that "Red Detachment of Women" is not only a revolutionary story, but also the growth story of the heroine Qionghua from an oppressed little girl to a responsible Red Army soldier! The play is a model play, but people are by no means model people, and Qionghua's impulses and remorse make this image more plump and real!
Qionghua grows up and then joins the battle to win? No, no, no, the fruits of the revolution are not so easy to come by, and the story of "The Red Detachment of Women" is not so bland. From the fifth act, the performance enters a climax. The Lady Scouts received the combat task of covering the transfer of the main force of the Red Army. After a fierce battle, Hong Changqing was captured! Subsequently, in a collective dance in the cutscene, the main force of the Red Army assembled!
At the beginning of the sixth act, the besieged Nanba Tiantian is anxious like ants on a hot pot, so he forces Hong Changqing to write a letter of persuasion to the Niangzi Army. Hong Changqing's righteousness was awe-inspiring, categorically refused, tore up the letter of persuasion, and was finally tied to a big banyan tree and burned to death.
Just when the audience was still immersed in the tragedy and regret of Changqing's righteousness, Qionghua and other Soldiers of the Lady Scout Army invaded the enemy's lair, destroyed Nan Batian, rescued the villagers of Nan Province, and learned the news of Hong Changqing's sacrifice. Everyone mourned the martyrs in front of the big banyan tree, turned grief and indignation into strength, and finally under the exciting and majestic music, the military and the people joined hands and continued to move forward!
It can be seen that, not to mention dance and music, just talking about the plot, this play is very ups and downs, even if the audience has never seen ballet, they will definitely be deeply attracted by this wonderful story. "Red Detachment of Women" has details, reversals, climaxes, and the plot is so complex that it is necessary to add narration to help the audience understand, and this form of voice-over commentary I have not seen in other dance dramas for the time being.
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="81" > dance style is unique</h1>
The extremely original dance of "Red Detachment of Women" is one of the important reasons why it can stand in the forest of world art! Ballet is also called tiptoe dance, the tiptoe is light, and the dance posture is light and flexible like a weak willow supporting the wind. The same ballet technique used in "The Red Detachment of Women" makes the dance full of power! This adaptation is not abrupt at all, but let people see more possibilities of ballet!
There are many classic passages of "Red Detachment of Women", Qionghua's solo dance, and the company leader's double dance, etc., are extremely artistic, and the most commendable of them are shooting dances, big knife dances and other group dances! The artists aimed the fighters at the shooting, the action of fighting bayonets, and cleverly combined with the techniques of changing feet, jumping on the legs, rotating and other techniques in Western ballet, so that the whole dance movement not only lost the elegance of the ballet, but also added a bit of heroism! The dancers wielding spears and knives swirled and jumped on the stage, neatly aligned, heroic and energetic, and the exercises on the Eastern martial arts training ground and the ballet in the Western court were so seamless and natural that you felt as if ballet was supposed to be like this!
In addition, the battle scenes of "The Red Detachment of Women" are also particularly well designed, so many fight scenes are rare in ballets of other themes, and the most impressive to me is a dance in the cutscene. In order to show the Red Army soldiers pursuing the enemy day and night, the dancers went from behind the scenes to the front of the stage to perform continuous split-legged jumps, and then back to the backstage, the cycle was endless, like a marquee. Although the action is not difficult, it renders the tense atmosphere of the warriors chasing them to the fullest! Such a dance really makes me poor, and I can only sigh again about the genius of the creators!
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<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="82" > music and dance complement each other</h1>
Music is an important part of ballet, which should be harmonious and unified with the entire work, and at the same time play a role in promoting the plot and setting off the atmosphere. When it comes to the music of ballet, we have to mention an important person - Tchaikovsky! The great musician of the 19th century introduced symphony to ballet for the first time, raising the artistry of ballet to a new level! The "Swan Lake" we know is from his handwriting!
As a revolutionary dance drama, "The Red Detachment of Women" introduced a choir in addition to orchestral music and used marches. This makes the whole work have a strong "sense of battle", overwhelming the sea and majestic.
"Red Women's Army Song" is the most frequently appearing song in the dance drama, and can be said to be the main musical motivation that connects the entire work. The pace is short, cheerful and powerful!
When the sixth act is immortalized, the background music is "The Internationale". The burning fire under the big banyan tree, the awe-inspiring evergreen righteousness, the firm gaze of seeing death as home, and the majestic "Internationale" together constitute a heavy punch, directly hitting the audience's heart! In such a tragic atmosphere, everyone present was moved!
The clear and clear water of the Wanquan River is another masterpiece in the soundtrack of "The Red Detachment of Women", the melody is gentle and gentle, and it praises the harmonious relationship between the military and the people.
"Li Girl Dance" is another passage in the soundtrack of "Red Detachment of Women" that impressed me. In the third act, when Nan Batian's birthday is celebrated, the Li girls are forced to dance for him, and the soundtrack at this time has obvious national characteristics, but some desolate variations will suddenly be added in the middle, showing the reluctance but helplessness of the Li girls at this time.
It can be seen that the soundtrack of "Red Detachment of Women" is mainly a march, but according to the needs of the plot, there are rich and changeable forms of expression, which are integrated with the entire work, so that the audience is completely immersed in the high atmosphere of the work visually and audibly.
All in all, "The Red Detachment of Women" is really a masterpiece that has never been done before! No matter what age you are, what kind of work you are engaged in, whether it is from the perspective of art appreciation, or from the perspective of receiving red education and feeling the national culture, it is highly recommended that you go to the scene to see this work. Although you can also find resources on the Internet, they are all recorded and restored versions of the last century, the clarity is not high, and it is completely incompatible with the majestic atmosphere that can be felt in the scene! Such an excellent work, if you can't sit in the theater and see it with your own eyes in this life, it is really a pity!
That's all! Peace&Love
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