Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition
Wang Mengting introduced the fingering of Peking Opera with a silhouette in Douyin.
Wang Mengting performed "Hanging Painting". The illustrations in this article are provided by the interviewees
On the Douyin platform, a unique "beauty" short video attracted many netizens to watch. In just 15 seconds, a cool girl in a modern costume accompanied by a rhythmic pop music quickly took out different makeup tools, cosmetics and Peking Opera headdresses, and as soon as the picture turned, she changed into a Peking Opera Huadan costume and made a beautiful gesture and graceful gesture of looking in the mirror. This kind of "turning around and dressing up" has received a wave of hot comments from netizens: "For the first time, I saw 'beauty' integrate the elements of Peking Opera." "So pretty, the eyes of the Peking Opera actors can speak." "After watching the video, I fell in love with the opera."
The "Peking Opera beauty blogger" Wang Mengting graduated from the China Academy of Performing Arts and is currently an actress in the Mei Lanfang Peking Opera Troupe of the Beijing Opera House. In 2017, she became popular for a short video that she accidentally filmed showing the basic skills of Peking Opera, "Turn your eyes". Since then, Wang Mengting has often released the classic singing segments of Peking Opera in "Red Lady", "Noble Concubine Drunk" and "Red Lantern" on Douyin, and also carefully matched subtitles to lower the threshold for more people to appreciate Peking Opera. In addition, she is also keen to popularize Peking Opera knowledge, such as introducing Peking Opera fingerings with silhouette modeling, revealing the whole process of Peking Opera actors' makeup and combing their hair, and sharing the mystery of "internal height" in the shoes of different characters in Peking Opera... So far, her personal Douyin account has more than 880,000 fans, more than 6.45 million likes, many of whom are "post-90s" and "post-00s". Wang Mengting was encouraged: "The new medium does not conflict with traditional art, it builds a bridge between Peking Opera and the audience, opens a window, and lets the audience know that Peking Opera is wonderful and is the essence of our culture." I think it is very meaningful to be able to do something for the popularization of Peking Opera through the short video community platform. ”
Behind the glamorous performances is the unimaginable hard work of ordinary people. Peking opera pays attention to singing and playing, hand-eye-body steps, and the role of Hua Dan played by Wang Mengting often requires both singing and dancing, as well as martial arts, which requires persistent training and solid and comprehensive skills from an early age. Wang Mengting began to live in school to study Peking Opera at the age of 7, and suffered a lot of hardships that children of the same age did not suffer. She recalled that when she studied drama, she often went to the park in the morning before dawn to shout her voice, and she had to overcome timidity when practicing. For example, when studying the play "Hanging Painting", she had to stand on the back of a chair taller than herself and jump around, performing movements such as leg standing, one-legged standing and "phoenix spreading its wings", surrounded by hard cement floors. It is in the process of falling down countless times and climbing up with tears, Wang Mengting laid a solid basic skill such as "stilt gong" and "chair gong".
Wang Mengting studied drama with more than a dozen teachers, and later entered the door of Sun Yumin, a famous Peking opera artist. Teacher Sun was strict, and Wang Mengting did not dare to slack off for a moment. In addition to learning Peking Opera singing and performing with the teachers, Wang Mengting also heard about their persistent pursuit of art and how to behave. For example, Sun Yumin once said that Peking Opera should not only be inherited, but also innovative and have its own characteristics. Wang Mengting deliberately released on her douyin that the 80-year-old Sun Yumin sang "Su Sanqi Solution" in chinese, English and Japanese three Chinese words.
In recent years, Wang Mengting has founded the Peking Opera Transmission Class of Xiaoliuxiang Society, rehearsed the lost plays "Pansi Cave", "Big Split Coffin", "Spinning Cotton", and also participated in the rehearsal of the new screenplay "Xi Jiao" and "Big Mansion Gate". Recently, she is composing a song with opera elements, based on the Kunqu opera "Peony Pavilion" excerpt "Garden Dreams". In Wang Mengting's view, innovation is to make ancient art gain longer vitality. She said: "If inheritance is like walking on the bridge built by the predecessors, then innovation is to build this bridge longer, so that future generations can continue to move forward, and go farther and longer." ”