Differences in the Aesthetics of Chinese and Western Classical Dance

Differences in Aesthetics between Chinese and Western Classical Dance

Many countries and nationalities in the world have their own unique styles of classical dance, and in the world, each country has gradually accumulated and formed a traditional dance with exemplary significance and unique styles during the historical development of its own people. The following is my compilation of the differences in the aesthetics of Chinese and Western classical dance, welcome to share.

Differences in the aesthetics of Chinese and Western classical dance

Culture, as a way of human existence and social phenomena, has its universal **** characteristics, but also exists in time and space of the heterogeneity of the characteristics. Especially based on the different ethnic regions, history, cultural differences, but also to give the cultural phenomenon to the colorful vitality of life. Dance, as one of the oldest cultural and artistic disciplines of mankind, has a strong sense of history and national cultural qualities, and has a long history.

Examined from the development, Chinese classical dance originated from China's ancient opera dance, rooted and developed in the social and historical atmosphere of the Chinese cultural tradition. The unique historical vicissitudes of evolution and cultural cultivation, injected into the Chinese classical dance to the Chinese nation's unique aesthetic pursuit. The Chinese opera art arose in the Song Dynasty. In the history of China, this was a historical period when the feudal autocratic system flourished and declined, and the feudal ideology matured and stereotyped. On the one hand, due to the great development of industry and commerce and the prosperity of the urban economy, for the development of literature and art, provides a broad social space; on the other hand, along with the rise of science and the increasingly complete, to Confucianism as the orthodoxy of the feudal program in the ideological field of social life, especially on the control of thought and culture is also more and more intensified, and even the Cheng and Zhu philosophers publicly to Even Cheng and Zhu rationalists openly attacked human nature and people's pursuit of sensual and material desires with the asceticism of "keeping heavenly principles and removing human desires". Therefore, the Chinese classical dance had to face such a difficult and severe social reality when it was launched; the free and vivid personality of human beings was confined by the nominal ethics of "Three Principles and Five Constant Rules"; the pursuit of happiness, joy and material desires was stifled by the asceticism of "Divine Principle". The pursuit of happiness, joy and material desires is stifled by the ascetic "Divine Principle". This is especially true for female characters in opera. The aesthetic interest of "roundness" is a consistent pursuit of traditional Chinese culture, which reveals Chinese culture's reverence and dependence on "heaven" and "earth". In the concept of Chinese ancestors, the idea of "heaven and earth" is y rooted. In the Chinese "unity of heaven and mankind" mode of thinking and behavior, "circle" is the most appropriate embodiment of the law of heaven's cycle of operation, is a symbol symbolizing auspiciousness and perfection, and is also the value of the process of the end of change of all things. It is only natural that it is constantly interpreted and displayed by the body rhythm of classical Chinese dance. "Tilting" is a symbol of static and dynamic transition in the process of human body movement. Chinese culture has always emphasized the virtue of harmony between rigidity and flexibility, and the opportunity to open and close the door of movement and quietness. The "tilt" in Chinese opera dance is a reflection of the beauty of the dance rhythm of "movement in the quiet", "quiet in the movement" of rigidity and flexibility.

As a Western classical dance paradigm of ballet. Its artistic origins can be traced back to the Italian Renaissance. In this unprecedented scale of ideological and cultural liberation movement, produced with the medieval European theological ideology counterbalance to the "human" as the center of the humanist trend. This ideology appeals to the freedom and liberation of human personality and calls for human nature to fight against divinity. Inspired and driven by this trend, literature and art have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and development. In this kind of historical and cultural fertile ground for the growth of ballet, naturally embodies and carries forward the spirit of the times, inspired by the Renaissance movement of the spirit of the ancient Greek civilization, the aesthetic pursuit of the art of dance, is the natural beauty of the human form of the display and praise. In the minds of the ancient Greeks, the human body is the most beautiful in terms of soundness and proportionality, dexterity and agility. Therefore, they are not ashamed to expose their bodies, even young women in sports is also naked. Ancient Greeks were not afraid to show their naked bodies in front of the gods, in solemn temples or festivals. This is different from the aesthetic interest of Chinese music and dance and even opera dance nurtured and nourished by traditional Chinese culture. Chinese culture and art has always been to "text to le first, for the purpose of "Baihu Tong Rituals and Music" said: "music so must be singing what? The song of the mouth also, the center of joy, the mouth wants to sing, the hand wants to dance, the foot wants to dance." The aesthetic intention expressed in these many classical remarks about dance is not concerned with the sensual beauty displayed by the rhythmic movement of the human body, but rather with its implicit "meaning" function, i.e., its socio-political and moral edification function. If the aesthetic perspective of Western classical dance is the sensual beauty of the natural skin and body displayed by the dance, then the Chinese classical dance shows greater concern for the beauty of the dance's mood. Only for this reason, Western ballet dancers almost do not need to use any dance tools, only with their own body can gallop on the stage, to give vent to the fullest, to show the natural beauty of the human body. While the Chinese classical dance is often inseparable from all kinds of dance tools to expand the dance atmosphere (such as dance feather dance, dry dance, Ni dance, sword dance, etc.). Therefore, from the aesthetic interest. Western ballet focuses on the human sensual intuitive realm of the physical beauty of the identity and appreciation; while the Chinese classical dance focuses on the rational edification function of the dance context of the perception of beauty and taste, focusing on the dancer's essence, gas, and God's integration of the rounded, harmonious and united.

Not only that, the Chinese and Western classical dance artistic expression style is also unique, very different. The former's body rhythm to "round, tilt, twist, curved" for the warp and woof; the latter's dance language shows "open, taut, straight, standing" style of art. The reason why there is such a clear-cut aesthetic difference, in addition to the role of social and cultural influences, the dancers of their respective social status, identity of the huge differences can not be ignored. Ancient Chinese opera artists, without exception, are from the lower strata of society's artists of the genus ("advocate of excellence", "You Ling" of the so-called also). Their social status in the medieval society has long been in the "pariah" class. And from Italy, flourished in France, the Western ballet, usually by male and female aristocrats, dignitaries play their own programs. Its performance environment and appreciation of the object is also different from the Chinese classical opera of the countryside, common people, the 15th to 17th century classical ballet is generally in the luxury of the court performance, and participate in the performance and appreciation of the performance of the performance of the people are mostly princes, nobles and dignitaries of the stream. Its "open, taut, straight, standing" for the characteristics of the body language style, it is a true reflection of the court dignitaries proud, reserved, elegant, romantic gentleman aristocratic temperament and aesthetic interest, so that it and the performance of the atmosphere into one, complement each other. Of course, in the subsequent development of the art, along with the role of theater dance and ballroom social dance between the increasingly obvious difference between the performers of the composition has also changed significantly. The professionalization of ballet art has become more and more obvious, and the emergence of full-time ballet dancers has been inevitable. But as a dance paradigm, its standardized and programmed dance elements and artistic style have been y deposited in its aesthetic concept.

Looking at the historical development of Chinese opera dance, it is not difficult to find that, as a paradigm of Chinese classical dance, it has been rooted in the folk and the lower strata of society since the day it was created, with a strong color of the common people and the breath of vulgar culture. What it expresses is the aesthetic interest of the people. Different from the courtly, academized and professionalized creative process of western classical ballet, the systematicness is not full and rich compared to the development and perfection of western classical dance. However, the cultural differences between "round, tilted, twisted and curved" and "open, taut, straight and upright" in the aesthetic interest of the dance reflect very aptly the different artistic tastes of the discriminated and repressed people at the bottom of the social ladder and the pampered, leisurely and superior princes and nobles. The different artistic tastes and aesthetic concepts of the princes and aristocrats.

Flexibility training skills in classical dance teaching

In classical dance teaching, it is necessary to carry out the Shen Yun teaching course, Shen Yun is the body and rhythm, Shen Yun course in the shape, God, strength, rhythm of the study, are on the body's 'flexibility has a high demand. The dancer's body flexibility reaches a certain degree in order to interpret the classical dance perfectly. If the body's flexibility is not enough, it is very likely that the "dance" will be interpreted as "hand dancing". Flexibility training, but also to master certain training techniques, so that the training to play a greater effect.

1. Importance of flexibility training in classical dance teaching

1.1 Flexibility training enables students to better master the movement essentials of classical dance

The movement essentials of classical dance are mainly mentioning, sinking, rushing, leaning, containing, being shy, and moving, which are seven, and the classical dance firstly pays attention to the dancers' movement and the idea of integrating with each other, then emphasizes the so-called "quiet as a virgin, and moving as a free man. If the dancers do not have good flexibility training, for example, some students who start to learn classical dance after adulthood, their understanding of the essentials of each movement may be deep enough, but it is very difficult for them to achieve the standard of each movement of classical dance. In classical dance teaching, the teacher's requirements are generally: to complete the fast movements cleanly; to complete the slow movements smoothly and smoothly. Students can better meet this requirement only after good flexibility training.

1.2 Flexibility training can lay the foundation for learning the speed quality of classical dance

The speed quality of classical dance is generally the same as the speed quality of other dances, and the speed quality refers to the dancer's reaction speed of thinking and reaction speed of movement; the second refers to the dancer's speed of movement, that is, the speed at which the dancer completes a dance movement; the third is the dancer's speed of movement, that is, the speed at which the dancer moves quickly within a certain period of time. The third is the dancer's movement speed, that is, the speed of the dancer's rapid movement within a certain period of time. To learn classical dance, students must master the quality of speed. When performing classical dance, this quality of the dancer is generally reflected in his reaction to the dance music. A dancer with good speed quality sometimes reacts faster to his movements than to his thoughts, which is the result of his long-term good flexibility training. This shows that good flexibility training can lay a solid foundation for learning the quality of classical dance.

1.3 Flexibility training can improve the quality of classical dance teaching

In the teaching of classical dance, most of the excellent students may lack musical talent, or may not have perfected their knowledge of music, but their flexibility is very strong. In classical dance teaching, the vocal program is an important part of it, and in the vocal program, the core training of students is flexibility training. Therefore, flexibility training can guarantee the teaching quality of classical dance teaching.

2. Flexibility training in classical dance teaching training skills

After a long period of classical dance teaching experience, we have come up with a few skills of flexibility training in classical dance teaching:

First, before flexibility training, we should do the corresponding preparatory work. Generally refers to the deep breathing to make the abdomen bulge, starting from the head, to the end of the foot, the whole body's muscles simple activities, but also to avoid strains in training. Preparation work before training must be done, time about ten minutes or so appropriate, time is too short the body muscles are not fully awakened, time is too long will consume too much physical strength, is not conducive to the back of the flexibility training.

Second, pay attention to the appropriate amount of training, cycle training. In the flexibility training, not let the students excessive pursuit of explosive force, excessive physical exertion, in the pre-training, a small amount of training, and then according to the students' training progress, gradually increase the amount of training, of course, according to the student's personal physical ability to treat separately. Flexibility training should also be carried out cyclically to avoid a certain training has not been practiced, the body's flexibility is reduced.

Third, in the flexibility training, pay attention to the combination of static and dynamic way, but the action of static time should not be too long, generally 10 seconds or so the best, static stretching of the body muscles, pause for a few seconds, and then dynamic training.

Fourth, the whole body flexibility training, do not train a single part of the body's flexibility, which will make the body appear very uncoordinated, jump out of the classical dance will lose the beauty.

Fifth, for the training, once the students found their body problems, we must immediately stop training, explain to the teacher and find out the reasons, change the training mode or training volume, until the body can adapt.

Mastering the correct flexibility training can make students' muscles, ligaments, tendons and other stretching greatly enhanced, but also to avoid students in the training caused by physical injury.

3. Summarize

Flexibility training is the cornerstone of classical dance teaching, and improving the quality of students' flexibility training can effectively improve the quality of classical dance teaching. In the process of flexibility training, mastering the correct training techniques can reduce the difficulty of training and avoid physical injury during training.