As the main performance of the 39th Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, the 60th anniversary celebration performance of the Chinese original ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was held yesterday at the Shanghai International Dance Center. Photographed by our reporter Ye Chenliang
"The north wind blows, the snowflakes float..." The familiar melody sounded again, and the 60th anniversary celebration performance of the Chinese original ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was performed twice in a row at the Shanghai International Dance Center Grand Theater yesterday. Launched together with the performance, there is also a photo exhibition on the 60th anniversary of "The White-Haired Girl". The precious historical images bear witness to the history of this red classic since its release.
A decade ago, "The White-Haired Girl" was born on the stage of the fifth "Shanghai Spring". It marked a breakthrough for Chinese ballet from scratch. This dance drama tells the folklore story of the "White-haired Fairy" that happened in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area during the Chinese Anti-Japanese War. It has infected generations of people and has been performed at more than 2,000 times at home and abroad. Spanning sixty years, this work that perfectly combines Western ballet art with Chinese national style is still full of vitality.
In this youth version of "White-Haired Girl", the ninth generation "Dachun", "Xi'er" and "White-Haired Girl" are all "Generation Z" under the age of 25. They took over the baton from the older artists. Show your passion on stage. "The 60-year-old "White-Haired Girl" is still young!" said 85-year-old dance artist Lin Yangyang, one of the choreographers of the dance drama. "Generations of ballet dancers continue to pass on the inheritance and give new creativity to classics in the new era."
newcomers They have come out in large numbers and used classic works to cultivate and educate generations of actors.
Snowflakes are falling on the stage, allowing the old audience to look back on the past years and feelings, and bringing a piece of history and a new scene to the young audience. "I often heard my parents mention "The White-Haired Girl" before. This year's 'Shanghai Spring', I finally saw this work at my doorstep. The story of the dance drama is gripping, and the soundtrack and choreography are both classic." Ms. Wu said with a 7-year-old Watch the show with my daughter.
The youth version of "The White-Haired Girl" was staged, showing the audience the strength of the younger generation of Shangba. In the seventh scene of the play, "The Cave", a scene where relatives are reunited, the "white-haired girl" completed 32 difficult one-leg turns in a row, and the theater burst into warm applause and cheers. Guo Wenjin, who plays the role of "White-haired Girl", started dancing in this work at the age of 19 and has been dancing for 4 years now. "I have practiced technical moves in school, but I have to complete 32 of them on stage in one go, and it takes a lot of physical effort to complete them. It is a big challenge for me." When talking about the role, she has eyes. Guang, "Dancing 'The White-Haired Girl' is difficult, but very enjoyable!"
Each generation of Shanghai Ballet's principals and leading actors began their artistic careers by playing "Wang Dachun", "Xi'er" and "The White-Haired Girl". "The three protagonists in the youth version are all under 25 years old, and the youngest actor on stage is only 17 years old. The young actors all tried their best." In the view of Xin Lili, director of Shanghai Ballet, this work is The "touchstone" is also the "alchemical stone". "The White-Haired Girl is Shanghai Ballet's 'heirloom' and our root. It is the fine tradition of Shanghai Ballet to use outstanding actors to pass on classic works, and then use classic works to cultivate and educate each generation of actors."
The day before the performance , the first-generation "Dachun" performer and dancer Ling Guiming appeared in the ballet rehearsal hall to "call the pulse" for the youth version of "White-Haired Girl". At the age of 80, his hair is already snow-white, but his movements are still vigorous. He points fingers at the young actors and does not miss any detail. "Open your shoulders a little more, and every movement must be as precise as a sculpture, so that the audience can see the lines of ballet." Ling Guiming believes that the skills of today's actors are constantly improving and have exceeded their level back then, but their performances still need to be polished. "Character creation must come from life, and it is not enough to have accurate movements. Only by going deep into that era and understanding that generation can we stand up the character on the stage and express the strong emotions in the character's heart."
In this regard, playing "Xi" Feng Zichun of "Er" was deeply touched. She said: "The most challenging thing is the emotional change. 'Xi'er' goes from great joy to great sadness. How to accurately convey her emotional changes is very challenging." The ninth generation "Dachun". Xu Jingkun has been in the troupe for 5 years. He started as a group dancer and gradually moved to the center of the stage.He said frankly: "I watched the video countless times during rehearsals, but the presentation of details such as movements and expressions requires face-to-face guidance from senior teachers. Inheriting "White-Haired Girl" from them is a persistence of the original intention and a continuation of the spirit. , a responsibility. "
is still growing, and the times have given new creativity to classic works. "The music is beautiful, the stage is beautiful, the costumes are beautiful, and the actors are superb," Ms. Duan, an audience member from Beijing, said excitedly, "Although " "The White-Haired Girl" has been performed for so many years, but I feel passionate every time I watch it. This kind of intimacy is incomparable to Western ballet, because it is our own national ballet."
is the pioneering work of national ballet. , "The White-Haired Girl" has the aggressiveness and courage to "dare to be the first in the world". While using foreign ballet vocabulary, the work draws on a large number of ethnic folk dances, traditional operas, martial arts and other materials. The music retains the "North Wind Blows" and "Tie the Red Head Rope" and other repertoire from the original opera. It also absorbs a large number of folk songs from North China, Hebei Bangzi, and Shanxi Bangzi as materials, and adopts the form of combining orchestral music and national musical instruments to make the dance drama rich and distinctive. The national style and rich sense of life. In 1994, the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was awarded the "Chinese National 20th Century Dance Classics Competition and Performance Classic Award" by the Ministry of Culture.
The inheritance of a classic work is inseparable from strict requirements on minute details. For example, "Xi'er" has four red blouses of the same style, all with patches on the right shoulders. However, as the story progresses, the colors change from dark to light to show the passage of time. Even the patches on the clothes have been carefully considered: if they are scratched, they will be newer; if they are frayed, they will be made older. The staff revealed that at the backstage of "The White-Haired Girl", four short shirts were hung together. Although the rush to dress up only lasted 30 seconds, they were never picked up by mistake.
Starting from the "Shanghai Spring", "The White-Haired Girl" traveled all over the country and appeared on the international stage. After hard work, it finally accumulated into Shanghai's red "family background". In the eyes of veteran actors, this 60-year-old work is still "growing" today. Shi Zhongqin, a 79-year-old dancer who starred in the 1971 color art film "The White-Haired Girl", revealed that compared with the first version, a pas de deux was added later, making it more "beautiful and emotional." Ling Guiming said that today's performances require life-like and lyrical qualities: "Even for classic works, performances are not static. They must have the flavor of the times and conform to the new aesthetics."
"The representative works are works that can withstand the tempers of the times. "Thank you to our predecessors for leaving us with precious artistic wealth, and thank you to the audience for their support and love for China's original ballet works." Go to the National Center for the Performing Arts to perform. "Shanghai Ballet has always been proud of "The White-Haired Girl". We will work hard to protect and inherit this stage classic, adhere to the ingenuity and perseverance in our artistic blood in the new era of creation, and take the path of creating for the people. "
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Text: Xuan Jing Editor: Fan Jing
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