Jiang Zuhui: The style on the tip of the toe

【Approaching the Writers】

Author: Meng Meng (Associate Professor, School of Dance, Shandong Academy of Arts, this article is funded by the special fund of the "Taishan Scholars" construction project)

She is the daughter of the famous writer Ding Ling, one of the choreographers of the well-known classic ballet "Red Detachment of Women", and the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Lotus Award, the highest award in the Chinese dance industry. She said: "Some creators always come up with new ideas, but without a foundation, they can't come up with new ones. We should look at more classic works, stand on the shoulders of predecessors and absorb their achievements first, and then move forward. You can't ascend to the sky in one step. ”

Her hair is gray and her face is full of wrinkles, but 85-year-old Jiang Zuhui is still radiant and radiant.

Because of the filming of "Dancer Narration - Oral History of Chinese Dance Character Biography", the author recently visited the elderly Jiang Zuhui.

Outsiders may not be familiar with the name "Jiang Zuhui", but the ballet classic "Red Detachment of Women" is probably unknown to everyone. It is a proud milestone in the history of Chinese ballet, and has achieved the world miracle of the perfect integration of Chinese and Western cultures in the field of ballet art. Jiang Zuhui is one of the three choreographers of "The Red Detachment of Women".

On the eve of the founding of New China, Jiang Zuhui, like many of her classmates around her, hoped to study science and engineering, and she even chose chemistry as her ambition, "because the country is in ruins and needs to vigorously develop industry." But after Jiang Zuhui's mother Ding Ling watched the Soviet ballet "Fountain of Tears" and "Peter the Great", she was deeply fascinated by the art on her toes and tried her best to mobilize her daughter to learn ballet, on the grounds that "in the future, our country will also need this kind of art." As a result, 15-year-old Jiang Zuhui was sent to the Choi Seung Hee Dance Research Institute in North Korea to study dance, and after returning to China, he entered the Beijing Dance School to continue his studies. Before graduating from dance school, she was sent to the Soviet Union to direct ballet choreography. Since then, Jiang Zuhui has become farther and farther away from her desire to "serve the country through industry", but on another road, she has danced a wonderful life.

In 1964, the National Ballet of China decided to adapt the film "The Red Detachment of Women" into a ballet, with Jiang Zuhui co-directing with Li Chengxiang and Wang Xixian. She was 30 years old.

After receiving the task, Jiang Zuhui went to Hainan Island with other creators to experience life. "Experiencing life played a very good role in the structure and movement design of later dance dramas." Jiang Zuhui recalled, "The first stop was coconut grove village, I saw a coconut tree, the trunk first grew tens of centimeters upwards, then grew horizontally for a while, and finally stood up tenaciously upwards. I think it was probably caused by the strong wind blowing down the coconut tree when it was a child, and the tenacity of the coconut tree to grow upwards desperately is not the portrayal of the spirit of Qionghua? ”

This detail was later used by Jiang Zuhui in "The Red Detachment of Women", where in the distance on the stage is an endless and dense "coconut forest" and in the near distance is the indomitable "coconut tree". The first shape of Qionghua in the "Escape" paragraph is "Qionghua first crouches in the tree to observe the environment, and then quickly flashes out from behind the tree, and makes a 'running' shape in front of the tree, that is, the right hand supports the tree on the lower right side, the right leg is arched forward, the toes stand up, the left leg is straight back, the toes are standing on the ground, the body is tilted to the right, and the left hand holds the long braid under the right shoulder." Inspired by the shape of the coconut grove, this set of designs expresses the indomitable character of Qionghua.

At that time, "The Red Detachment of Women" "the legs of the ballet, the body of the classical dance, the image of the warrior" caused a fierce debate. "Qionghua in 'Red Detachment of Women' is a tough and rough girl, and the movements should be explosive, and the movements of traditional ballet are too soft, so I added some Chinese dance styles to enhance the strength of the movements." Jiang Zuhui believes that dance vocabulary should serve the shaping of characters, and do not care too much about what vocabulary to use. Speaking of emotions, Jiang Zuhui couldn't help but stand up from her seat and use the stage movements she was accustomed to to show us the thoughts and emotions of the characters in the play.

In addition to Qionghua's solo dance, Jiang Zuhui also used a large number of classical Chinese dance movements in the first dance of Qionghua and Lao Si, such as "Oolong Horn Pillar", "Sweeping Legs", "StringIng Over" and so on. When creating the double dance, Jiang Zuhui tried to break through the fixed mode of "big double dance" in classical ballet, and with the help of the expression of "dueling" in Peking Opera and the integration of ethnic dance elements, it perfectly expressed the fierce scene when Qionghua and the old fourth fought, highlighting the image of Qionghua's revolutionary who swore to die and resisted.

The Red Detachment of Women was a huge success. At that time, the Cuban dancer Alicia Alonso, who came to Visit China, looked at it and praised it one after another: "For the first time in the history of ballet, there was a toe dance with a knife and a gun, and you are so remarkable." In the subsequent foreign performances, foreign audiences also felt that the work was refreshing and had a very Chinese taste. Today, "Red Detachment of Women" has been performed nearly 5,000 times around the world, and its artistic charm spans times, regions and cultures.

The influence of "Red Detachment of Women" on Chinese ballet is unprecedented, with some learners and imitators, but none of them seem to have surpassed. In this regard, Jiang Zuhui said: "Some creators always come up with new ideas, but without a foundation, they can't come up with new ones. We should look at more classic works, stand on the shoulders of predecessors and absorb their achievements first, and then move forward. You can't ascend to the sky in one step. ”

After "The Red Detachment of Women", Jiang Zuhui successively created "Song of the Wanderer", "Blessing", "Song of the Chinese Revolution", "Yan Nanfei" and other works with great influence. In 1984, the organization arranged for Jiang Zuhui to serve as the deputy director of the National Ballet of China.

After retiring, Jiang Zuhui continued to use dance vocabulary to show her artistic passion, and successively created works such as "Yuanshen Festival", "Kite Tide", "Chaofeng Music And Dance", "Niang Ah Niang" and other works, and the dance genre also expanded from ballet to national folk dance and other forms. In 2014, Jiang Zuhui won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Lotus Award, the highest award in the Chinese dance industry.

Near the end of the interview, the old man danced happily, raising his hands and feet to reveal the elegance of natural nature. The footage of our cameras was frozen in her staggering dance posture, and the screen was full of brilliance.

Guangming Daily (2019.04.10. 13th edition)