's "Encyclopedia" that records ancient Chinese science and technology and craftsmanship, "Tiangong Kaiwu", comes to life in the dance drama through the organic combination of dance, video and modern technology. From October 25th to 27th, director Lu Chuan's first cross-border dance drama "Tiangong Kaiwu" will premiere at the Shanghai Cultural Plaza. The Shanghai station of the show is co-sponsored by Jiangxi Theater Company and Shanghai Jingying Culture Media Group.
The play is based on the Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing and his book "Tiangong Kaiwu" as its theme, recreating the wisdom and creativity of the working people in ancient China. The whole play uses chapters such as "rushing for exams", "writing books" and "mountains and rivers" as clues to show that Song Yingxing failed in six scientific examinations and still devoted himself to the study of ancient Chinese science and technology. It allows the audience to travel through more than 300 years of time and witness how Song Yingxing survives in troubled times. He wrote books in seclusion and spread Chinese wisdom to the world.
Lu Kedi, who plays the role of the young Song Yingxing, is an actor in the Youth Dance Company of Beijing Dance Academy. He won the first prize in the 17th Beijing Dance Competition. His representative works include "Fake Monk", "Gawa Returns on the Waves" and "Zhaizi China" "wait. His dance is powerful and flexible, and his super body control makes every move of his move light and elegant. His light flips on the stage make the audience exclaim, "He can really fly!" With his extraordinary stage tension, , the character Song Yingxing he played bursts with majestic vitality. The audience was held captive for 5 seconds by turning over and jumping during the curtain call. This clip was also circulated on the Internet.
Ma Jiaolong, who plays the elderly Song Yingxing, is a dance blogger with millions of fans. As a young dancer and teacher at the Beijing Dance Academy, he once won the gold medal of the "Lotus Award" and was also the gold medal winner of the Greek International Dance Competition. He popularized Chinese classical dance to foreign friends in Paris, London and other places, which became popular on the Internet and became evidence that "Chinese people really know Kung Fu". In "Tiangong Kaiwu", he will also perform the skill of "flying". His performance fits the character's heart and is deeply integrated with his superb skills, making people completely "immersed in the play" while feeling the blood pressure of "getting rid of gravity". In addition, actor Liu Jing, who plays his brother Song Yingsheng, and actor Yao Liang, who plays his good friend Tu Shaoxuan, also possess unique skills. The whole dance drama is like "gods" fighting.
From a contemporary perspective, although Song Yingxing is a "hard-core science and engineering man", his legendary life is very poetic. China's "Tiangong Kaiwu" was called "China's 17th-century craft encyclopedia" by Darwin and others, and its author Song Yingxing was also regarded as "China's Diderot". In the first half of his life, he followed the trend and worked hard to become an official in the imperial examination, but he took the exam six times and got nothing. After many failed attempts to "come ashore", he finally discovered the true love in his heart. At this point, he took off his "long gown" and began to embrace this era with both hands and measure the earth with his feet.
"Tiangong Kaiwu" has 100,000 words, 123 illustrations, more than 130 production technologies and tools, and more than 30 industry scientific data. He incorporated thousands of years of Chinese agriculture, handicrafts and other practical skills into this scientific masterpiece. Many production technologies are still in use today, and even have a profound impact on Asian and European countries, representing the highest level of scientific civilization in the world at that time.
After finding his life goal, Song Yingxing stuck to his integrity and lived in seclusion. He is not worldly and has redefined the "coming ashore" of his life. Lu Chuan called Song Yingxing a "rebel" of the times. He hoped to highlight his magnificent inner world, and also hoped that parents would bring their children to see how such a scholar decided his own life path more than 300 years ago.
The dance drama "Tiangong Kaiwu" is known as "a masterpiece in the literary and art world and a blockbuster in the dance drama world". The stage design scheme refers to a large number of historical materials, and through the study of Ming Dynasty scrolls, architecture, utensils, clothing, furniture and other materials, the aesthetic characteristics of "big, simple and clever" are summarized. The illustrations of 123 white-drawn embroidered portraits in the original book have become the aesthetic elements throughout the whole book, showing restrained and exquisite characteristics.
The clothing design refers to the clothing characteristics of the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The clothing of a large number of farmer craftsmen is inspired by the patterns of pottery unearthed in Wannian, Jiangxi Province, the "first pottery in China".The music creation takes into account the characteristics of Ming Dynasty elegant music and folk music. A large number of original sound materials of labor are collected in the music and sound effects, such as: blacksmithing, bellows pulling, rice waves, pouring, farming, labor chants, and cleverly used To the music melody, it should be in harmony with this "Dance of the Craftsman".
has crossed over from the field of film to stage art. There are essential differences between the two in terms of expression and narrative techniques. How to activate the various agricultural techniques recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu" into a vivid dance language? Lu Chuan revealed that every dance segment in the play extracts dance vocabulary from labor creation, from farmers farming, weaver girls raising silkworms, making distiller's yeast to workers smelting, the audience can see blacksmithing, bellows pulling, wheat waves, pouring, etc. from the dance Figures of working people.
The combination of realism and freehand brushwork, virtuality and reality is reflected in many details of the stage. The double-layer gauze curtains at the front and back of the stage symbolize Song Yingxing's retrograde space in the world, integrating the real scene of the stage with the illusion and sense of substitution of the movie. The dance drama "Tiangong Kaiwu" is not only an artistic masterpiece, but also a great attempt at cultural inheritance. Lu Chuan said: "Song Yingxing is not only a scientist, but also a philosopher. His spirit and thoughts are still inspiring to us today."
text/Xinmin Evening News reporter Zhu Yuan
editor/Qiao Ying
