Development history of China dance

The vigorous development of ballet art

If the performance of the French "Queen Comedy Ballet" in 158 1 has always been regarded as the beginning-embryonic form of ballet, then the spread and development of ballet in China is almost three centuries later. However, although it started late, it was a leap. .

At the beginning of the 20th century, foreign ballet companies performed in China, but the scale was limited. Since then, Russian overseas Chinese have set up amateur private ballet schools in China, which have exerted great influence in Shanghai, Tianjin, Harbin and other places-and played a positive role in China's ballet enlightenment education.

Undoubtedly, the real rise and development of ballet in China was also after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), which is closely related to the basic policy of the China government to actively absorb and support all outstanding cultures and arts of world significance.

At first, the Russian school had an influence on China's ballet. From February 1954, when the first Soviet expert, O A· yelena, was invited to Beijing to hold the first "teacher training class", to February 1958, when the first classic ballet "Escape from Li Lake" was staged in China, China ballet achieved a rapid "triple jump" in its initial stage. During this period, Dai, who was familiar with ballet art, also played an important role.

The students in the first "teacher training class" (most of whom have received some ballet training) miraculously completed the teaching syllabus of the Soviet Dance School at Grade 65438+Grade 0-6 in half a year, and all passed the rigorous examination. They became the teaching backbone of Beijing Dance School and Ballet Academy established in the same year. Since then, I have constantly improved in practice and grown into a real ballet educator-training a group of outstanding talents.

The important measure to realize "triple jump" is to practice performance while training. During this period, famous Soviet ballet artists often performed in China, and their exquisite performances attracted many audiences. People in China are getting familiar with and love this art.

1957, under the guidance of Chaplin, China staged the ballet LA FILLE MAL GARDEE, which was the work of Jean Dobé Girval at the end of 18. It has a realistic style and is suitable for the actual level of ballet dancers in China at that time. Through the performance, the team has been improved.

1958 10 under the guidance of gusev, Beijing Dance School concentrated its efforts and successfully staged the whole drama of the world-famous classic ballet Bai Shuxiang, which aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad. Through strict rehearsal, a talented ballet team has been created at high speed. Now, Escape from Lihu Lake has settled in China, becoming the most attractive ballet.

At the end of 1959, the experimental ballet of Beijing Dance School was established, which was the first professional ballet in China. The following year, Shanghai established a dance school with the same organizational system as Beijing, and also undertook the task of training professional ballet talents. From then on, the north and the south echoed and strived to open up a new situation in ballet.

After escaping from the lake, in 59 and 60 years, under the guidance of gusev, Lecorps Searle and Giselle were successively performed successfully. It seems that the young China Ballet has undertaken these two famous ballets with different styles.

During this period, China sent Jiang Zuhui (1934-) and Wang Xixian (1933-) to the director department of Moscow State Theatre Academy for further study, with excellent results. After returning to China, Jiang Zuhui released his graduation work-Spanish Daughter (adapted from the famous poetic drama Yangquan Village by Lobe Deviga, a famous European writer in the Renaissance, which premiered at Tianjin Song and Dance Theatre on 196 1; Wang Xixian directed and performed his graduation work "The Fountain of Shahe I" in Beijing (adapted from the famous long poem of Russian poet Pushkin, premiered by the Experimental Ballet of Beijing Dance School.

1963, the Central Opera and Dance Theatre was established, and the ballet affiliated to the school ended its experimental stage and belonged to the National Theatre. Soon, Jiang Zuhui directed another famous ballet Notre Dame (based on the novel of the same name by the famous French writer Hugo), which premiered at the Central Opera and Dance Theatre. ..... In just 10 years, the directors and actors in China have basically been able to independently control the creation, rehearsal and stage performance of classical ballet.

From 1964, the creative practice of China's ballet began. In fact, most of the directors of the first generation of ballet turned from studying national dance to ballet major, and their national cultural background undoubtedly contributed to the exploration of ballet nationalization.

Although the performance of China's large-scale ballet "Red women soldiers" is not strictly the "first record" (there have been different types, different scales and different effects of ballet nationalization before), it can be said that it is the first most successful large-scale ballet in China, with distinctive China style and China style in both content and form.

Red women soldiers premiered 1964, directed by Li Chengxiang, Wang Xixian and Jiang Zuhui; Composers: Wu Zuqiang and Du Mingxin. First performer: Central Opera and Dance Theatre, heroine: Bai Shuxiang plays Qionghua; Company commander Wu Shouxun; Actor: Liu Qingtang plays Hong Changqing; Li Chengxiang plays Nanbatian; Main supporting actress: Zhao Ruheng plays Qionghua's comrade-in-arms; Wan plays the fourth child.

It's based on the movie of the same name. Tell the story of the second revolution in China: Qionghua, who was tortured, escaped from the tiger's mouth because she couldn't bear the oppression of the landlord for eight days in the south, and met Hong Changqing, the representative of the Red Army. Under his guidance, Qionghua participated in "Female Soldiers", and after being honed and tested, she grew into an excellent revolutionary soldier. After Hong Changqing's death, she marched bravely with a red flag.

This dance drama, with its tragic plot, magnificent scenes, distinctive characters and regional customs of Hainan Island, has won many praises since its birth. For the first time, China, a female soldier wearing pointed shoes, was portrayed as a hero, which combined the essence of ballet with China's style and added a wonderful flower to the world ballet.

White-haired girl (1929-), Fu Aidi (1936-), Cheng (1932-), Lin (1939-), and

"White-haired Girl" 1965 premiered, composed by Yan; First performer: Shanghai Ballet; Heroines: Cai Guoying (a) and Mao Huifang (b) play Xi; Gu Xiamei (a) and Shi Zhongqin (b) play white-haired girls; Leading actor: Ling Guiming plays Da Chun; Main supporting actor: Dong Xilin plays Huang Shiren.

Based on the opera of the same name, it tells the story of Xi, the daughter of a poor farmer, who was forced to sell to the bully landlord Huang Shiren to pay her debts. She felt ashamed and fled into the mountains. After years of camping, my hair turned white, and people who didn't know it called it "the white-haired fairy"-(ghost). Finally, she was rescued by the Eighth Route Army and reunited with her young lover Da Chunchun, who was already a soldier of the Eighth Route Army. The opera "White-haired Girl" touched thousands of people in Qian Qian, Qian Qian, China, with the true story that "the old society forced people into ghosts and the new society turned ghosts into people".

This ballet did not take the shortcut of learning from the original, but was recreated according to the artistic characteristics of the ballet. It skillfully uses the materials of China classical and folk dance, and presents the plot as a ballet through the combination of realism and romanticism. For the main characters in the play, such as: Xi's innocence and sweetness and her tenacity and fortitude after becoming a "white-haired girl"; Da Chun's simplicity and honesty, his courage and hard work after joining the army, and Huang Shiren's sinister and diabolical ... are all vividly portrayed.

"Red women soldiers" and "White-haired Girl" have milestone significance in the history of ballet development in China. They are the deeper practice of "making foreign things serve China" and stand on their own feet in the world ballet art forest with unique China characteristics. The collective wisdom made up for the lack of experience, which made China's ballet exploration start from a higher starting point and start quickly.

Different from the fate of other dance and ballet works, these two works were designated as "model operas" during the Cultural Revolution-two dance dramas that were rarely allowed to be staged at that time. Red women soldiers and White-haired Girl have stood the test of time and society and still have artistic vitality. These two works are recognized as "20th century classics".

The performance of the Renaissance in the field of ballet is to restore the performance of western ballet classics, so that the audience who have only seen 1 "red" and 1 "white" for a long time will set off a frenzy of "fleeing the lake" after a long and colorful ballet art.

China ballet in the new period is developing vigorously.

First of all, we should absorb and learn from the world with a more open eye, not limited to the influence of a single Russian school. Since the early 1980s, famous ballet artists from Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and other countries have taught their skills in the form of friendly exchanges. Anton Dowling, a ballet master, and B STEVENSON, a famous ballet choreographer, have rehearsed their works in the Central Ballet Company: TE-PASDE kixode, Prelude for Men and Women and Serenade by balanchine, a famous ballet master.

In addition, in recent ten years, China has also staged many western classic plays with different styles, such as 1980. Under the personal guidance of Lisette Sanval, the ballet master of the Paris Opera House, the Central Ballet performed the famous French romantic ballet Sylvia; 1984, the famous British ballet artists Belinda Wright and Jurisa Gilkau rehearsed and performed Anton Dowling's version of Giselle. In 1985, Don Quixote); It was conducted under the personal guidance of world-class ballet artist R Nureyev and ballet master Eugene poliakov. There are Romeo and Juliet (1989, directed by Roman Walker) and Sleeping Beauty (1994, directed by Morico Parker), all of which are very successful. Nuriev, in particular, with his unparalleled superb skills and profound understanding of the dramatic characters, combined with the reality of the Central Ballet, conducted strict training, which greatly promoted the improvement of the level of actors-leaving a precious page in the history of China ballet. In the above-mentioned international exchange activities, Dai played a very good role as a bridge.

At the same time, Beijing Dance Academy adheres to the good tradition of combining study with practice, and has successively staged gabriela (1979) and Dancer (198 1). Shanghai Ballet staged the third act of Naples (also known as Fisherman and Bride); Tianjin Song and Dance Theatre re-enacts Spanish Daughter (1982); In addition, Hai Xia (1983) produced by Liaoning Ballet Company founded in 198 1 ... not only enriched the cultural life of the masses, but also performed pure classical ballet masterpieces under the guidance of ballet authorities from all over the world, which made a new generation of ballet talents grow rapidly.

1982, Wang Qifeng (female, Shanghai) and Zhang Weiqiang (Beijing) won the first prize of China dancer (third prize of performance) in Jackson International Ballet Competition. Since then, China contestants have frequently participated in various international ballet competitions, showing their great strength. More prominent are:

1984- The 1st Paris International Ballet Competition, (Shanghai) and Wang (Beijing) won special prizes;

1985- 13 Lausanne International Ballet Dance Competition, Mars (female, Beijing) won the first place and Xu Gang (Beijing) won the second place;

1985- In the 5th Moscow International Ballet Competition, Thaung Myint (female) won the best performance skill award, and Zhang Weiqiang and Zhao Minhua won the third place in men's duet and solo respectively (both from Beijing).

1992—— Tan Yuanyuan (Shanghai) won the first prize of the 5th Paris International Ballet Competition;

In the same year, Tan Yuanyuan won the gold medal in the women's junior group of the 1 Japanese Ballet International Competition (Yu Xiaonan, a female player from Liaoning, China, won the silver prize in the same group); The Nikinsky Prize in Poland.

1994- Wang Yuanyuan (female) and Cao huanxing (both Beijingers) won the second place in the modern ballet duo in the 6th Paris International Ballet Competition.

1995- Helsinki Ballet Competition, Zhao Zhang (female) and Han Ye both won the second place in the junior group.

1997- In the 8th Moscow International Ballet Competition, Zhao Zhang, who won many awards, won the first place in the women's doubles group.

Under the new situation, the exploration of China's ballet has also stepped onto a new stage. The ballet adapted from China's literary and dramatic masterpieces has made remarkable achievements. Such as Thunderstorm (original by Cao Yu), Home (original by Ba Jin), Soul, The True Story of Ah Q, Regret for the Past (original by Lu Xun) and so on. It is a bold and beneficial attempt to make some breakthrough explorations in structure and expression techniques.

Among these works, the dance drama of the same name adapted from Lu Xun's famous novel Blessing and Lin Daiyu adapted from Cao Xueqin's masterpiece A Dream of Red Mansions are quite influential.

New Year's greetings 1980 premiered, directed by Jiang Zuhui; Composer: CICI?; First performer: Central Ballet. Heroine: Yu plays Xianglinsao; Wu Shouxun Liu.

The original novel reveals the tragic fate of working women in the old society under the feudal shackles with profound brushwork: a simple and filial young widow, Xianglinsao, made a living as a maid in a rich family and was sold to the mountains as a wife for He Laoliu. She fought to death, but was moved by the kind He Laoliu, married her and gave birth to a son. But the good times didn't last long-the husband died and the son died ... Because of feudal consciousness, people regarded Sister Xianglin, who remarried twice, as an ominous symbol, and the vast sky could not tolerate this unfortunate woman. On a snowy night, she died with resentment and accusations about life.

In the second act-Anti-Marriage, the director carefully applied the Chinese wedding custom of "Bride Covering the Head" and carefully designed the plot of "Revealing the Head Three Times": When He Laoliu's relatives and friends-simple mountaineers-danced cheerful folk dances and blew their heads off for the bride layer by layer, they never expected that the bride in front of them was tied up and stuffed with cotton balls. She ran to the console table in tears-but she begged for mercy! He Laoliu sympathetically set her free. Sister Xianglin was moved by his kindness and decided to stay. The second act of Blessing has become an independent chapter of dance drama with its strong local flavor, wonderful duet and touching plot handling.

"Lin Daiyu" 1982 premiered, directed by Li Chengxiang and Wang Shiqi; Composer: Shi Fu; First performer: Central Ballet, heroine: Wang Pingping plays Lin Daiyu; Feng Ying plays Xue Baochai; Actor: You Guoqing plays Jia Baoyu.

This masterpiece of Qing writers at the end of 19 describes the rise and fall of feudal nobles and rings the death knell of China feudal society. Hundreds of characters in the book have different personalities-everyone has a voice and a smile.

The ballet "Lin Daiyu" abandons the elaborate and complicated plot of the original work, and captures the most touching love story-the emotional entanglement between Lin Daiyu, Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai and the final tragic ending, among which the "Death of Daiyu" in four acts is quite ingenious. It describes that Daiyu, who is dying, still loves Baoyu deeply, holding a token of love-Spa, and she has hallucinations ... She suddenly feels that Baoyu is close at hand, and they tell each other their hearts. Suddenly I felt that it was dark and terrible around me, and Baoyu disappeared without a trace; Suddenly, I saw Baoyu and Baochai get married-she wavered during this period ... The drum music of Baoyu and Baochai's wedding came from a distance, and Daiyu returned to the cruel reality-she burned "silk handkerchief" angrily and passed away with grief. The director boldly uses the technique of stream of consciousness to fully reveal Daiyu's mental journey with nationalized ballet vocabulary, which is very infectious. The four acts of "Lin Daiyu"-"The Death of Daiyu" has also become an independent dance drama chapter.

In addition, the large-scale ballet Butterfly Lovers (1983), the small trilogy "Seeking Light" (1985), "Lanhuahua" (1988) and "Fantasia in the Red Chamber" were co-operated by Liaoning Ballet. It is also an active exploration of the nationalization of ballet.

In addition to the ballet posts in Beijing and Shanghai, the ballet company was formally established in Tianjin on 1992, and performed plays such as "One Thousand and One Nights" and "Escape from Li Lake". 1995 Guangzhou Ballet made its debut and performed Anna Karelina. ...

Ballet art has made great progress in China for more than half a century, and now it is ambitiously stepping into the ranks of "big ballet country".

Modern dance is not popular in China (1)

Modern dance has a broad definition and a tortuous development process in China. As mentioned above, the pioneers of new dance art such as Dai, Dai, and Wang all learned authentic western modern dance by respecting teachers and attaching importance to Taoism in their own dance enlightenment education. In artistic practice, they have maintained the concept of freedom and innovation associated with modern dance, and at the same time, they have more strongly pursued the nationality and spirit of the times of dance. Among them, Wu Xiaobang's wise words of "Dancing with the Pulse of the Times" and 20th century classics represented by March of the Volunteers, Song of Guerrillas and Desire for Fire should be regarded as the precious spiritual wealth of "China Modern Dance".

In the development of modern dance in China, in a broad sense, it seems that all dances without specific national style or classical formula can be classified as "China Modern Dance". However, the above-mentioned works, which extract dance language from life, reflect social and historical events that people are concerned about and have distinct realistic character, do not belong to the category of "modern dance", because in a strict sense, they are obviously different from the "modern dance" belonging to the western modernist art system in terms of creative ideas and forms of expression.

From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, Wu Xiaobang founded Tianma Dance Art Studio, systematically promoted the teaching system he founded, which originated from modern dance, and carried out various creative practices in order to find a way of "China Modern Dance". The works of this period include: House of Flying Daggers, Three Alleys of Plum Blossoms, Wild Goose in Pingsha, etc. They are inspired by ancient songs and pursue the traditional cultural spirit of China. There are also cowboy culture, football dance and flowers adapted from real life. His artistic belief remains unchanged, but the influence of the above works is not as good as his dance during the Anti-Japanese War. Later, with the interruption of "Tianma Studio", the exploration of modern dance in China gradually declined.

Modern dance in China rose again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and developed with the deepening of reform and opening up. In the early days, a number of works were called modern dance by the masses, such as Hope, Silent Song, Goodbye, Mom, Wedding on the Execution Ground, String Cutting and so on. The breakthrough from conception to language mode has obvious innovation consciousness and great influence. But with the exception of Hope, most of the works are still not divorced from the specific characters in specific events. Obviously, this is not a modern dance in the strict sense. Since then, Shanghai Hu Jialu has released his own series of works, such as Call of Ideal, Rope Wave, Blood Sink, Random Thoughts on Chess, The Other Side and Monologue ... It seems that the choreographer is approaching the "modern dance" in his mind from the creativity and expression of his works.

Modern dance is not popular in China (2)

It has been more than ten years since China really let go of his hands and feet, directly introduced western "authentic" modern dance, and made new explorations on this basis. Take Beijing, the outpost city of reform and opening-up, as the cultural center capital of Guangzhou and China.

1987 Guangdong province opened the first modern dance experimental class; 199 1 Beijing Dance Academy officially opened the modern dance teaching and research section. Famous western modern dance experts have been invited to carry out systematic training in figure and choreography. Successively: Sarah stackhouse, Jean Ruby, Douglas Nelson, Claudia Gitleman, Lucas Hoven, and Luo sparks (USA); Bekit Osan (Sweden), Janet Randall (UK); Chinese-American experts Wang, Jiang Qing and teachers from Canada, Australia and other countries. In addition, Guo Mingda, a modern dancer from China who obtained a master's degree in the United States in the 1940s, especially Cao Chengyuan of Hong Kong City Contemporary Dance Company, also played an important role in promoting modern dance.

Most contemporary young modern dancers enter this field with a sense of novelty and piety towards western modern dance. As the professional dance education in China has formed a comprehensive network system, the skill training has reached a high level. Those "recruits" who have entered the experimental modern dance training class through strict selection have a solid foundation of ballet or China dance and first-class physical quality, and are by no means "paintings" of "modern dance" on a blank sheet of paper. The high-intensity modern dance training course has achieved remarkable results-it surprises teachers, but it is even more powerful for "students".

Soon, young China modern dancers made their mark in the world dance world with their unique charm: Qin Liming and Qiao Yang of Guangdong Modern Dance Class won the gold medal for the first time in the 4th Paris International Modern Dance Competition in 1990 with The Sound (directed by Cao Chengyuan) and Tai Chi Impression (written and performed by themselves); Since then, 1994, 1996, the gold medals of the 6th and 7th Paris International Modern Dance were won by China people-Liang Xing and Sankiga. Besides Cao Chengyuan's works, they also performed their own works "Light" and "Shake".

Modern dance emphasizes self-awareness more than folk dance and ballet, and it is more free and universal in body language, and does not need special styles and norms. In addition, the training of modern dance advocates the improvisation of dancers. Therefore, compared with national dancers and ballerinas, most modern dancers in China put themselves into choreography earlier-the combination of choreography and performance showed higher talent, and a number of widely recognized modern dance programs emerged. For example:

As I said just now, the dance lists that won prizes in international competitions include Tai Chi Impression (duet) and Swing (solo); There are also Tide (Group Dance) (director: Wang Mei) and Autumn Water (Group Dance) (director: Zhang Shouhe); Baskets and bamboo (collective creation); Sleepless Night (written and performed by Shen Wei), etc. Some of his works were performed at the American Dance Festival in 199 1 and were well received by modern dance authorities all over the world. They were surprised to find that China artists were in line with international standards so quickly in the field of modern dance, and their works exuded the special charm of the oriental nation.

1992 Guangdong experimental modern dance troupe was formally established; At present, Beijing is also setting up a modern dance troupe. With the expansion of international cultural exchanges, people's appreciation habits have become more diversified, and China audiences, especially young people, have shown great interest in modern dance. Undoubtedly, to create a truly modern dance in China, we need to explore in many aspects, hold high the spirit of the times and embody the soul of the nation.

In open China, modern dance is in the ascendant.