[Source: Xinmin Evening News] To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Shanghai Ballet's "heirloom" - the original ballet "The White-Haired Girl" ushered in its 60th anniversary performance for the first time. Tonight, as a part of the

[Source: Xinmin Evening News]

To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Shanghai Ballet's "heirloom" - the original ballet "The White-Haired Girl" ushered in the first performance of the 60th anniversary celebration. Tonight, as a part of the National Center for the Performing Arts' National Dance Classic Series, the play will be performed at the National Center for the Performing Arts and Opera House and kick off its national tour.

Caption: Stills of "The White-Haired Girl" (the same below)

In this performance, the 85-year-old conductor Chen Xieyang will once again take the stage to conduct the China Film Orchestra and the China Radio Chorus to perform the familiar melody. This is also the first time that the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" has been performed in Beijing with live accompaniment, solo singers and chorus since its revival in 1989.

In tonight's performance, the leading roles are almost all from the younger generation of Shanghai Ballet. Xu Jingkun and Guo Wenjin, who play the roles of "Wang Dachun" and "White-Haired Girl" in the play, are both born in the 2000s. They "take over" the classics and dance with the spirit of "The White-Haired Girl", giving this red ballet new vitality and creativity.

Chinese ballet "from scratch"

In 1964, the original Chinese ballet "The White-Haired Girl" was born on the stage of the 5th "Shanghai Spring". It marks a breakthrough in Chinese ballet "from scratch" and is one of the first ballets in China to tell Chinese stories in the world language of ballet. The true history and romantic emotions of the work have infected several generations of Chinese people. Whenever the familiar melody of "The North Wind Blows" sounds, it always brings back those warm memories.

As one of the conductors during the initial stage of this work, Chen Xieyang participated in the orchestration of the dance drama music, and all the annotations on the score were written by him. At the rehearsal last night, Chen Xieyang waved his baton energetically, striving to keep the music "authentic". To this day, every time he plays "The White-Haired Girl", he still feels the surge in his heart, as if he was "full of vitality and yearning" back when he first performed it. This time, the soloists in the play are Shanghai Opera House singers He Xiaonan and Zheng Yao.

""White-Haired Girl" was jointly created by ballet veterans such as Hu Rongrong, Fu Aidi, Cheng Daihui, Lin Yangyang, etc., led by teachers and students of Shanghai Dance School." Xin Lili, artistic director of Shanghai Ballet, said: "At that time, "White-Haired Girl" "Like the rising sun, it illuminates the beautiful vision of Chineseizing and nationalizing ballet." In 1979, the Shanghai Ballet was established on the basis of the "White-Haired Girl" crew, taking over the important task of inheriting the classics and inheriting the "White Haired Girl". The original artistic intention and feelings in "Mao Girl".

Spanning 60 years, "The White-Haired Girl" is still full of vitality. The total number of performances at home and abroad has exceeded 2,000. It has not only been performed all over the country, but also in France, Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United States, Japan, etc. staged. It has tempered generations of Shangba artists, leading Shangba to continue to move forward towards the goal of telling Chinese stories and performing red classics well.

"Heirloom" is also a "touchstone"

The red ballet "The White-Haired Girl" uses foreign ballet vocabulary and draws on a large number of ethnic folk dances, traditional operas, martial arts and other materials, while combining reality and romance. The music retains the opera's "North Wind Blows" and "Tie the Red Head Rope" and other repertoire, and also absorbs a large number of folk songs from North China such as Hebei Bangzi and Shanxi Bangzi as material. It adopts the form of combining orchestral music and national musical instruments, making the dance drama full of distinctive national characteristics. Style and a strong sense of life.

In Shangba, no main actor can skip the stage of "The White-Haired Girl". This classic is both a "family heirloom" and a "touchstone". It inherits the red blood of the dance company and tempers the willpower of the actors. Even today, with the rapid advancement of dance skills, "The White-Haired Girl" is still a "difficulty" that many ballet dancers need to overcome. In the play, there are nearly 50 "whiplash turns" of various sizes, which also require the use of small steps in opera, solid basic skills and interpretations that incorporate the emotions of the characters.

"Old and new" is a fine tradition of Shangba. Before the performance, the first-generation "Wang Dachun" actor, Ling Guiming, who is over 80 years old, was invited back to the rehearsal venue to "check" for the new generation.He narrates plays for young actors, allowing them to step into that era and experience the emotions of the characters, and also teaches them how to dance a national ballet well. Wu Husheng, chief actor and deputy director of Shanghai Ballet, has played "Wang Dachun" for many years. He said: "Every performance is a spiritual baptism."

Qi Bingxue, the chief star actor of Shanghai Ballet, is tonight's " The actor who plays "Xi'er". Even though she is now the absolute main force in Shangba, she still gets nervous and apprehensive every time before she plays "The White-Haired Girl", and she needs to constantly "refresh" and polish this role. During the rehearsal last night, after dancing the "Xi'er" scene, she sat on the floor at the side curtain. "Although it is very difficult, very tiring, and very nervous, I still feel very happy every time after dancing Xi'er." She said: " The red work is full of energy. To perform well, you have to invest more emotions. You have to spend a lot of time and energy to think about it and let the role grow on you. "

23-year-old Xu Jingkun is the most popular in the dance company. The young "Wang Dachun", 40 years have passed between him and "The White-Haired Girl". In order to play this role well, he found the color film of the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" and watched it repeatedly to figure out the role and what impressed him most. It's Ling Guiming's performance: "His firm eyes and simple smile give people the feeling of being very open and full of hope." Guo Wenjin, who plays the role of "White-Haired Girl", also said: "Finding the right character is the most important thing."

This The sub-national performance also includes main actors Zhang Wenjun, Zhao Meici, etc. In order to present the artistic charm of "The White-Haired Girl" in the most authentic way, Lu Caigen, the former lighting designer of the Shanghai Ballet, was specially invited this time. He has been the lighting designer of "The White-Haired Girl" since 1964.

"Shanghai Ballet has always been proud of "The White-Haired Girl", and adheres to the ingenuity and perseverance of its artistic heritage in the new era of creation." said Ji Pingping, director of the Shanghai Ballet, "China's original ballet "The White-Haired Girl" 》shows the original spirit of Chinese ballet art to the world, injecting distinctive Chinese characteristics and profound cultural heritage into ballet art. Spanning 60 years, the ballet "The White-Haired Girl" has gone through the baptism of time and become a common feeling in the hearts of generations. Memories precipitate timeless masterpieces." (Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhu Yuan)‍‍