Water sleeves, folding fans, sword dancing... On August 16, the Changning District Bureau of Culture and Tourism's "Government Opening Month" event invited more than 30 citizen representatives to the Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe to immerse themselves in the historical charm of Huai Opera that has been passed down for hundreds of years.
"Clench a fist with your left hand, and turn upward with a sword in your right hand..." On the stage, Qiu Haidong, a national first-class actor from Shanghai Huai Opera Troupe, was leading the children to learn the sword dance movements in Huai Opera. With a beautiful sword and flower in her arms, the heroic "Baby Sheng" won the admiration of the audience.
Huai Opera, once known as "Jianghuai Opera" and "Yancheng Opera", originated in Yancheng, Funing, Huaiyin and other places in Jiangsu Province. It is popular in northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, Shanghai and the area along the Shanghai-Nanjing line. It has a history of more than 200 years. In 2008 It was included in the national intangible cultural heritage list. Entering the "Home of Huai Opera", citizen representatives, led by Qiu Haidong, viewed Huai Opera pictures, books, stills and other precious video materials, and learned about the long history of Huai Opera.
The gorgeous costumes and exquisite props attracted the attention of many citizens. "It's so beautiful!" The children couldn't help but sigh, "I want to wear costumes like this too!" The children felt the unique charm of Huai Opera up close.
What are the professions of opera? How are they divided? "The character wearing a long white beard is an old student; and boys as young as you are called baby students." Under Qiu Haidong's explanation, the citizen representatives gradually understood the opera culture in depth.
Sword dances, water sleeves, and folding fans took turns taking place. The Huai Opera actors' melodious singing and graceful postures combined to create a dreamlike opera world. Citizen representatives immersed themselves in enjoying the Huai Opera performance in the Xiao Wenyan Performance Hall. They were infected by the stage charm of Huai Opera. They actively went on stage to learn postures, steps and other movements from the actors and teachers, and experienced the exquisite skills of Huai Opera performances. They also had a real understanding of "on stage". The hard work and sweat behind "One Minute".
Afterwards, the citizen representatives started making opera headdresses under the guidance of the staff. Everyone carefully selected accessories, used creativity in a way that intertwined tradition and creativity, and successfully completed their own opera headdress.
“It’s the first time that I feel the charm of traditional opera so close and have the opportunity to perform on stage with professional teachers.” Citizen representatives said, “It feels particularly meaningful to be able to experience the performance of traditional opera first-hand.” From Yueyue, the editor of "Good Children's Illustrated" said: "I am very happy to have learned the water sleeve dance from the teacher and can perform it for my classmates! I hope I can come here often to experience it."
In the next step, the Changning District Culture and Tourism Bureau will continue to The important concept of "whole-process people's democracy" runs through cultural and tourism work, accurately focusing on the cultural needs of the masses, vigorously integrating multiple resources, digging into the humanistic heritage, focusing on the integration of culture and tourism, so that more people can understand, understand, participate, Supervise the way to further smoothen the channels for government-citizen interaction, enhance the people's sense of identity, participation and gain, persist in writing a new chapter of serving the people with hard work, continue to deepen the construction of the regional public cultural service system, and promote Changning culture and tourism High-quality career development.
Source: Shanghai Changning
