As an acting teacher, Liu Tianchi uses a "method" to open the hearts of actors

In the social context of modern people, the range of meanings of "teacher" has long been diluted, becoming a polite pronoun that blurs gender, generally referring to all adults encountered in public. But there are always some people who can remind us that teachers, preaching and teaching karma to solve puzzles, people who can make people willing to call them a teacher, always bear heavier responsibilities and pass on more valuable fires.

Liu Tianchi is such a teacher -

Black-rimmed glasses, a smart ponytail, and a crisply cut suit don't get in the way of any kind comments. Liu Tianchi entered the public eye through variety shows such as "The Birth of an Actor" and "I Am an Actor", and many of us truly perceived for the first time: "Acting" is a thing that can be taught, a skill that can be improved through professional training.

The audience is accustomed to using intuition to judge and criticize the raw acting skills of traffic stars, and will also use intuition to praise the emotional intensity of the "old drama bone", Liu Tianchi unveiled the "black box" of acting skills on the screen - the originally unclear lines were dismantled into a number of dramatic tasks in her three words and two words, each task was transformed into logical accents, body gait, and eye drop point, and the audience understood: Oh, performance is taught this way, and the acting teacher works like this.

This is liu Tianchi's life story, the story starts from the theater, starts from the school, passes by the screen, passes the screen, and goes farther away. We know her from the label of "acting teacher", but in the story, she deftly plucks the labels of students, teachers, actors, wives, women, etc., and spreads herself out with surprising honesty: a unique and wonderful life, as I smell.

"Creatures of the Stage"

Actor Liu Tianchi's learning path was filled with tears all the way. For the theater, for the promise, but not for yourself.

In 1991, as a freshman in the acting department of the Central Academy of Drama, liu Tianchi sat in the audience of the Beijing People's Art Theater for the first time, and on the same day, "The Seagull" starring pu Cunxin and Xu Fan, the hottest artists at that time. As if it was some kind of wonderful chemical reaction, the curtain opened, the bell rang, and Liu Tianchi, a freshman who "couldn't understand Chekhov at all", shed tears, and all the students who sat down were classmates, everyone was surprised, but the tears just couldn't stop.

After the scene, a group of classmates decided to go to Tiananmen Square and walked all the way to the Jinshui Bridge, and Liu Tianchi's tears could not be stopped. The classmate laughed: "Have you never entered Beijing City?" The answer was a slightly childish vow: "When I graduate, I will take the Beijing Renyi Theater." ”

Such a simple run, so that Liu Tianchi's four years into an asteroid around the human art, the theater's lighting shelves, side curtain strips, rehearsal halls have left her to watch the scene, "all are rubbing drama to see", the university teacher led into the door and told them, this is the Central Academy of Drama, I have nothing to teach you, but this space will teach you, the library here will teach you. It is also this time when the drama is infiltrated, so that the young Liu Tianchi believes that performance is the only way for her to release her own life, and the theater is her energy field.

After graduating from Chinese opera, Liu Tianchi did not enter the human arts as he did when he was a teenager, but traveled across the ocean to the Japanese Four Seasons Theater Troupe to study musical theater performances, which is the second story stained with tears.

As a film and television actor, Liu Tianchi's starting point is extremely high. Her debut work is director Zhang Yimou's film "Alive", adapted from Yu Hua's novel of the same name. The main actors are Gong Li and Ge You, and the mute girl Fengxia played by Liu Tianchi is their daughter. When she received the role, she was only a junior in college, and she was desperately filming in the crew while studying with the teachers. But it was her first experience in the film and television crew that made her find herself far less excited than facing the lights on the stage. The kind of creation that builds a space in the rehearsal hall with various departments is what she yearns for the most, and she finds herself still a "stage creature".

In his senior year, Chinese opera cooperated with the Japanese Four Seasons Theater Company to do musical theater training for students in the 91st and 92nd grades, and the substitute teachers were all "devil trainers" from Japan. A group of students engaged in performance rushed to the shelves to line up the musical "West End Story", taking today's buzzword as "singing and dancing double waste", and a "quintet" was sung as a "quartet". The students even looked fresh at the instruction manuals of the plays brought by the Japanese teachers, and the exquisitely printed thick volumes were still a piece of paper. The students were all curious: Is this a musical?

Before the winter vacation, Liu Tianchi soaked in the theater every day. Her favorite scene is before the audience enters, the dark stage, only the lights are turned on, the seats in the auditorium are black and empty, Liu Tianchi fantasized, in a few moments, there will be people crying and laughing in this place, there will be collisions in that place, and everything that can happen in this world will happen.

The theater after the end of the show also fascinated her, some of the chairs in the audience stood up, some were lying on their stomachs, there were water stains left by flowers thrown on the stage, and the empty space before the performance was due to the arrival of a group of strangers, resulting in empathetic joy and pain, "This is the most wonderful moment."

The fate with the Japanese Four Seasons Theater Company arose at this wonderful moment. Before a performance, she once again paraded through the theater two hours earlier than her makeup time, and met a white-haired old man, Mr. Keita Asari, the founder of the Japan Four Seasons Theater Company. On the empty stage, the two men met, and the girl subconsciously bowed. Liu Tianchi spoke Chinese, and Mr. Asari spoke Japanese, each of which spoke a lot, and no one could understand anyone. In the shade of the summer theater, Liu Tianchi wore a short sleeve, Mr. Asari took off his vest and draped it on her, Liu Tianchi was more blindfolded, and it was a comparison, at this time the accompanying translator finally arrived, translating the words of the grandfather: "Would you like to come to Japan to feel our four seasons troupe?" The girl replied, "Thank you, thank you, but I'm going to Beijing Renyi." ”

Turning around, I received a message from Beijing Renyi that this year I will not recruit Xiaohua Dan, or will you go to the National Drama Theatre? The tears did not fall at this time. When the teenager's heart was the most depressed, he really moved the idea of going to Japan to study. The little translator at the time heard that she had changed her mind and was also happy. Or find director Zhang Yimou to get an idea, the director said to the point: First, being an actor is inevitably selected by the camera, and the technical conditions for Liu Tianchi to be photographed are not the best - this is certainly not good, but the rational Capricorn girl thinks deeply and does not mind. Second, musical theater is in the ascendant in the Western art world, and it must be useful to learn, not only should go to Japan to study, but also to the United States if necessary.

Liu Tianchi then made up his mind to accept the invitation of the Four Seasons Troupe. At the end of the year, the procedures for going abroad were all completed, and I received a call from Renyi: the theater decided to keep her. Two olive branches, on the one hand, the oath of the former youth, and the promise of the international troupe on the other.

This time it was really crying into tears. Relatives and friends around me are advised, or stay in the art of good - to solve the hukou, the future is reliable. But Liu Tianchi found that he had become interested in the art form of musical theater in his heart, and the Capricorn girl, who had both reason and sensibility, chose the latter in the material conditions and artistic ideals.

What followed was three years of solid troupe life. In 1998, Liu Tianchi walked through the highly mature Japanese musical theater industry, and returned to the Chinese opera campus again with Mr. Asari's hope of spreading the spark of musical theater performance.

How to open an actor's heart?

Not long ago, Liu Tianchi shared a video on his social networking site. In the film, she confesses that she used to want to be an actor, just like Gong Li, but Zhang Yimou responded that she thought too much, but "this does not prevent you from becoming a good actor, maybe you can become a good teacher." ”

Many viewers know and get acquainted with teacher Liu Tianchi from a variety show called "The Birth of an Actor". When Wu Tong, the general director of the show, went to Beijing to find her, at first Liu Tianchi refused, she bluntly said that she did not have the spirit of entertainment and did not like to engage in exaggerated things on the show. But that year, the popularity of the show remained high, and many people remembered Liu Tianchi through the textbook-level performance guidance.

Before the interview, I watched almost all the teaching clips that Liu Tianchi showed in the variety show, and most of the time, her teaching subjects—whether they were students who came to interview or artist stars who had already debuted—seemed a little cramped before they began to contact the performance task. In class, Liu Tianchi's tone is not gentle, but with a certain unquestionable thickness. In the big class, she would pull out the small words behind the mineral water bottles carried by the students who laughed in the imitation exercises — practicing concentration; during the interview, she let the trembling students sit on the ground and read the fragments to soothe each other's emotions; one-on-one tutoring, she let singers who are accustomed to speaking in air tone learn to compact their voices on the occasion of the line.

After a few shots of montage, I could always see the students in front of her relaxing themselves to varying degrees, stretching their bodies and showing a more natural performance. More importantly, I saw that the young boys and girls who were originally trembling showed complete trust in her.

How did she do it? Pulling the progress bar back and looking at it again, I couldn't find the moment when the magic happened, the password that opened people's hearts.

Many outsiders, including fellow teachers, have asked her: What is your method? How do you open an actor's heart?

"My method is: I only have you in my eyes, nothing else."

"I've come all the way from a young actor, and I'll always make my child feel that there's a hand pushing him behind his back, a pair of eyes watching him, and only if you think of him as the person you love the most will you remove his tension." 」 She often gives them examples, in the subway, the space is very narrow, the physical distance between people is very close, but the psychological distance is very far, "What I want to do is to quickly reduce the psychological distance between me and the student to zero, I will remove the social label on him, choose to only see the other party as a person." 」 Only then can we resonate at the same frequency and we can turn on the working mode. ”

Every time he receives a job to guide a new actor, when they meet for the first time, Liu Tianchi will ask the other staff and the other party's agency team to leave temporarily - away from the labels that are artificially attached to those eyes, and remove all social identities, "When you remove the distance between his psychology, you will find that he is such a unique and wonderful creature, everyone has his wonderful part, he will pour out his own world things with you, and I will put it down." Tenchi Teacher's identity, to go as an individual, a person only, this interaction is valuable, this is a sincere exchange of emotions. ”

It often only takes two hours for the actors to be "opened," or rather, they can open themselves to each other.

Xiao Taohong, a close friend of many years, said to her, "You are the child who has raised less, and you are suitable to be a mother of many people." The fact is that many of the students Liu Tianchi brought with her are not called her teachers, but "Chi Ma.".

Let's pull back the progress bar of Liu Tianchi's life story a little bit - in 1998, Liu Tianchi had just returned to Chinese opera, and her mentor Gao Jingwen took three young teachers including her to organize teaching work, and the students of the 98th class of the Acting Department were not a few years younger than Liu Tianchi, including the actor Deng Chao, who was later known to the audience. At that time, some seniors had some doubts about her being a teacher, thinking that Liu Tianchi was a good actor, and she did this job for a short time.

Once, teacher Gao Jingwen was not there, and entrusted Liu Tianchi to organize a class with full authority. Slightly nervous, she came to the classroom early with the prepared courseware and began the lesson, and she shouted, "Assemble! The whole class of students stood on the opposite side, neatly aligned, Liu Tianchi was blindfolded, "take a breath, stand upright, look forward", after the three instructions were finished, she felt that she was firmly grasped by something.

"I understand how great the responsibility of a teacher is, that any of your passwords, any expressions, dominates this space, and you are at the heart of your preaching and teaching. I don't remember what I said in that lesson, or whether I did well or badly, but I'll always remember those three passwords—these three passwords made me think I had to figure out the teacher thing, because you had too much responsibility. ”

As an actor, she performs on stage, the audience looks below, the information is accepted or not accepted, the choice is in the audience; being a teacher, every sentence in the classroom, the students listen to the heart, she feels that this matter is "too serious", and begins to reflect on her own knowledge, so she goes all the way to graduate school, examination, with a teacher's introspection, and constantly improving.

So the young teacher who was predicted to leave the school soon became The Teacher of Tianchi day by day, and then became the "Pool Mother" in the mouth of the students. When the children reported on the performance, she became the one standing on the side of the curtain line - the original standing, which was "rubbing the play to watch"; now the standing, which she called "dignified monitoring". She heard the audience laughing and crying because of her students' performances, and when the children rushed to hug her at the end of the curtain, she felt that she was enveloped in a great sense of happiness.

This year, is Liu Tianchi engaged in drama education for the 22nd year, there are friends to see her class preparation is not surprising, you still do new courseware every lesson ah? She will say, yes, the children faced every day are different, sometimes the students are the same, the space and time are not the same, or they have to adjust, teaching this matter, "can not be a joke."

In 2016, Liu Tianchi founded the Liu Tianchi Performance Workshop, hoping to bring drama education to more people who have demand and interest in performance. As a bridge connecting the campus and the market, the workshop brings together many front-line teachers with rich experience in performance education, and uniquely adds new types of teaching such as lens sense training, on-set self-help training, and dubbing practical training on top of the basic system teaching. Not long ago, the 15th Actors Combat Training Camp also held a camp debriefing performance.

"All along, I think Chinese take acting and drama too small. When I work, I say to myself, I'm going to amplify the function of drama — drama itself is a tool that allows you to better assume things outside of life. We spend our whole lives between the virtual and the real, and the hypothetical nature of the drama is virtual, but the process of understanding and learning performance through the hypothesis is the most real. ”

"For example, some children like to cook, saying that I now assume that I am a chef, you will guide his logical thinking ability through drama, you have to ask him through what process can play a chef, do you like Chinese food or Western food? For Chinese food, do you prefer Sichuan, Lu or Cantonese cuisine? If it's Sichuan cuisine, what kind of spices do you need? ”

"Drama is actually such a learning tool, and I am willing to encourage more people to become familiar with it and use it."

Always leave room for personal interests

Entering the house was soothed by the sandalwood in the room, to be quiet to see, Liu Tianchi wearing a sports suit, comfortable clothes sitting on the sofa, in front of the low coffee table arranged elegantly, the palm of the Taihu stone, placed in the small bottle with flowers, small teapot soaked in Pu'er, evening drinking will not disturb the spirit, two clean small porcelain cups have been waiting next to it. The incense sticks were inserted in the prepared vessels, and wisps of incense wafted out.

"Can you drink Pu'er?" The owner of the room asked me softly.

In a trance, I almost forgot that this was just a temporary hotel for Liu Tianchi's business trip.

Drinking tea is a habit left over from my student days. She described the profession of actor as a "omnivorous and gregarious" for both men and women, which is by no means pejorative. It is really because the drama is over, the mood of the good actor is still at the highest point, and something must be done to unload and dissipate. Most people choose to supper, have a few drinks with their companions, and after a few hot chats, let the character's spirit completely run away and vacating the body. And Liu Tianchi felt that it was too draining, so he chose to drink tea, in the university dormitory, a cup of tea, several girls to drink, and then soak their feet, is a good night's sleep.

So even if she is busy on business, she has a tea machine leaning over, "every day only need to spend half an hour to love herself is enough." Coming in from the outside, I would stay in this place for half an hour, in fact, to do a handover inside and outside, I shared it with others, but they didn't seem to be able to hold on, I said you are busy until two or three o'clock in the morning, your own physical exhaustion, mental, mental confusion, you need to find a place to put it down, the next day to be able to set off again. ”

A pot of tea, an incense stick, a hot bath, end in a quiet moment that belongs only to oneself, and then fall asleep with a pillow.

Mr. Zu Feng instructed her: There is nothing to talk about insomnia and insomnia, "too Versailles", Liu Tianchi sometimes feels that the sun shines on himself every day, sometimes bathing, water rushing on the body, it feels as if the world only has hot water here, straight to the whole body red, the whole body is comfortable.

When he is not traveling, Liu Tianchi also has a "thing" - wearing beads, making bracelets and pendants. She set up a "small workshop" at home, all kinds of beads: crystal, amber, beeswax, bodhi seeds, eighteen seeds... Small boxes were placed over. In addition to work shooting, she also has no habit of wearing jewelry, wearing it will be given away, no matter how busy the work is, she also has to leave a space for her interest, otherwise "why did I come to this world?"

Mr. Zu Feng's interest is calligraphy, sometimes at night after the two drink tea, before going to bed will invariably open Taobao, Liu Tianchi to see the bead consumables, Zu Feng browsing pen and ink paper, but also communicate with each other, each other to buy each other.

"Very romantic!" I couldn't help but sigh.

"Maybe someone else seems romantic. I think it is, after removing the various identity labels given to us by society, we are two living individuals with their own interests and interests, not that you are a husband, I am a wife, I think this thing is very interesting, share it with you. ”

"We are two children."

(Original title: Liu Tianchi: Sincere interaction is the only way to shape actors)

Source: Beijing Daily

Author: Yi Yue

Process Edit: L020

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