Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy: 21 deaf and mute people create the most shocking program of the Spring Festival Gala, behind the scenes it is touching.

Wen / a coconut

hometown tonight think a thousand miles, frost temples tomorrow another year.

As the Spring Festival approaches, CCTV announced the Spring Festival Gala list with great fanfare and started the Spring Festival Gala rehearsal in full swing.

The Spring Festival Gala, a program that has accompanied people for many years, has become a cultural symbol of the New Year and a memory of a generation since 1983.

I remember the first year, Liu Xiaoqing's beautiful figure into the hearts of the audience, Li Guyi a lingering "country love" touched countless people;

1984, Zhang Mingmin to low strong patriotic feelings sang "my Chinese heart", Li Guyi's "Unforgettable Night" sung for more than 30 years, Chen Pace, Zhu Shimao's skit, "Eat Noodles".

In 1987, Fei Xiang, dressed in a red suit, his face like a crown of jade, he sang the song "a fire in the winter" is unconsciously warmed up the hearts of thousands of young girls, is still a generation of male gods;

In 1989, Song Dandan's sentence "My name is Wei Shufen" made the audience notice the future of the "Chinese", the "Chinese".

In 1992, the youthfulness of the Tigers infected many viewers, and they became the "idols" of the time;

In 1995, Song Zuying's "Spicy Girls", Old Wolf's "You at the Table", and Andy Lau's "Water of Forgetfulness" were like Yangchun Baixue, which teaches people to feel the emotions in their hearts;

In 1999, Tsai Kuo-Qing's "The Souls" was a hit, but it was not a hit. In 1999, Cai's "often go home to see" spread throughout the streets, Ren Xianqi infused infinite tenderness into the "girl across the table look over", capturing the hearts of young girls ......

But since entering 2010, more and more traffic stars on stage, the sketches are reduced to the star's appendage, although the ratings burst, but more and more people feel that the Spring Festival Festival Gala has lost its original heart, more and more is not good to see.

Thinking back over the 38 years of the Spring Festival Gala, the most classic and moving than the 2005 "Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy".

On the stage, 21 actors dressed in gorgeous costumes, accompanied by the music of the Guangle Juntian, dancing and swaying, a thousand changes in hand posture as the peacock open screen, the beauty of the art of subtlety.

Tai Lihua, the lead dancer, is as dignified and compassionate as the Goddess of Mercy.

This dance is a visual feast, a spiritual baptism, and not only is it a hit in China, but South Koreans are praising Chinese culture.

It is worth mentioning that this dance is composed of 21 deaf and mute people, who overcame a lot of difficulties, so that there is this classic work, a magnificent treasure.

In 1997, a dark young man with a camera around, the vast expanse of the desert he has been, steep cliffs he broke through, the valley basin he did not fall.

It seemed that wherever there was desolation, he went straight there.

But there's nothing he can do about it, because he likes to travel the mountains and rivers and explore places of interest.

He visited the Yungang Grottoes, the Wutai Mountain Golden Pavilion Temple, Taiyuan Chongshan Temple, the upper and lower Huayan Temple, and enjoyed the exquisite murals in the head, felt the solemnity of the temple.

In this journey, he always saw the statue of "Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy".

At that time, he would not have thought that two years later, with this statue, he had a sudden idea, created a dance version of the "Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy", and then became famous, out of the country, became a first-class choreographer, known as the "dance world of wizards".

This young man is Zhang Jigang, director of the dance troupe of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation Army.

In 1999, the China Disabled People's Art Troupe invited him to choreograph a dance, and he took the opportunity to create "The Goddess of Mercy".

But unexpectedly, there are three versions.

At first, the talented Zhang Jigang thought that this dance, the most essential is the hand, flexible fingers tell its emotions silently, rich in artistic beauty and infectious, and deaf people are the right choice.

They usually communicate through sign language, hand is their way of communicating with the world.

Seeing this, Zhang Jigang communicated and coordinated with the Disabled People's Art Troupe to create the first version: 12 female dancers, Tai Lihua, He Jin, Lv Xiaoyan, Li Guoyan, Liu Yan, Cao Geng, Chen Cen, Hu Nan, Wang Zheng, Chang'e, Lin Ling, and Zhuang Wenjie.

They weren't born deaf, most of them were deafened by fevers and antibiotics as children.

A single fever took away the world's beautiful voices.

Perhaps it was fate that bound them together, rehearsing together, communicating together, growing together, and Tai Lihua acted as the backbone of it all, with nineteen years of dancing experience, being guided by Yang Liping, her talent and hard work was evident.

In 2000, the U.S. government invited the Disabled Arts Troupe to perform the "Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy," and they made their debut with a simple modeling and unskilled techniques.

Over the years, they have developed a strong rapport, and most of their performances have been a piece of cake.

But the troupe received an invitation to the closing ceremony of the International Paralympic Games in Athens, and the eight-minute performance made Zhang Jigang wait for his turn, and laughed bitterly in his heart: "There are not enough people ah."

He panicked and borrowed from the troupe's leader, who gave him nine dancers, but they were all men.

Zhang Jigang thought of a dead horse, let them imitate the female dance movements, and strive for their movements rigid and flexible, 21 people's charisma as the same.

Repeated practice day and night did not fail them, the Athens stage in 2004, they 21 people dancing, elegant and elegant, the audience's applause.

Since then, this second version has stunned the audience.

The CCTV Spring Festival Gala heard about it and threw an offer to Zhang Jigang, who agreed.

Dancing phoenix buns coiled air, curling waist warm more soft.

The third version of the song was a huge success and had a huge impact on the world.

The popular star Shang Wenjie, Dili Hotba, YiYe QianXi called it the most stunning program of the Spring Festival Gala;

Many variety shows imitated it, reproduced it, such as "Ace vs. Ace" Guan Xiaotong version, the version of the kindergarten students;

It went on "America's Got Talent", the South Korean variety, so that China's traditional culture in his country glittering.

As we all know, the Spring Festival Gala is highly scrutinized, the rehearsals are long and stressful, and as soon as Zhang Jigang was notified, he started a devilish training program for the deaf actors.

As the "Thousand Hands Guanyin" shows a person with a thousand hands and eyes, when listing a column, Tai Lihua as the only one to show up, the rest of the 20 people have to hide behind Tai Lihua, not to stand out in the queue.

The first thing that comes to mind is size.

They run through the frosty Beijing winds early in the morning, doing all kinds of warm-up exercises, such as frog jumps and extreme skipping, just to lose fat and maintain a well-proportioned body.

And "Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy" is now in front of people, mainly their arms, if you want to dance neatly, their arm thickness, size, skin color have to be unified.

In a month or two, want to arm thin, no doubt the sky is the limit.

But they did it.

They wrapped their arms in plastic wrap, compressed it tightly, and strangled a red mark when they rehearsed. To them, these minor injuries and pains were nothing.

When the time was long, the arms sweated, the plastic wrap was wet and sticky, and the flesh stuck more tightly, and naturally they lost weight.

They're more familiar with this kind of "hurt the enemy a thousand times, hurt themselves eight hundred times" approach.

At first, the troupe taught them to practice standing, in order to improve their balance, to fall as a risk, the left hand grasps the seat of the bus, the right hand to practice static, the car is moving, people do not move.

The children were so happy to see the roadside scenery while practicing, but they didn't know the consequences of not having a firm grip.

They have seen the world's sympathetic eyes, but they also want to be upright for themselves, for the disabled:

"Disability is not unfortunate, just inconvenience. The disabled, too, have the value of life."

Because of this breath, they die with this dance to the end, regardless of the cost, not afraid of suffering.

"Thousand Hands of Goddess of Mercy" column, Zhang Jigang asked 21 people close to each other, the latter actor's toes next to the former actor's heel, the tip of the nose on the back of the head of the former actor, the position of each person's hands through the precise scale measurements.

And so the actors stood upright, hands raised, for hours.

It's sad to say that the actor at the end is the tallest and has the longest hands, which makes the movement a bit more strenuous than the others.

But he was not willing to lag behind, and in his spare time, he practiced standing, hands together, these dance movements, Zhang Jigang suddenly saw, patted him to cheer, but found that he had practiced for a long time, his shoulders and arms have been stiff and numb.

Because of this, the five-minute performance of the Spring Festival Gala, the actors stood like a pine, stalwart, through some of the Guanyin's solemnity, awe-inspiring.

The dance was rehearsed with a lot of difficulty.

The biggest difficulty lies in the deaf and mute, who can't hear the music and can't grasp the rhythm of the dance.

Zhang Jigang thought and found a sign language teacher.

He thought to slow down the pace and teach the actors the dance moves.

After all, it's hard for normal people to **** with music, let alone them who can't hear.

But they have a pure heart and do their best to get it right.

A couple of girls turn on the deafening music, lean in to the sound, and use their senses to comprehend the rhythm of the music so they can feel it.

They were feeling and signing, like lost children, and their confusion fell into Zhang Jigang's eyes.

Everything is in words, Zhang Jigang looked at this scene, the heart seems to be hard to grasp, silent tears.

This also let Zhang Jigang thought of a new method: the children can vibrate through the sound, lying on the floor to feel the drums and beats.

As the saying goes, God closes a door for them and opens a window for them, and their keen senses make them naturally good dancers, with a surprisingly high level of understanding.

They memorized the beats and familiarized themselves with the music over and over again.

Over time, the body's habitual memory of the rhythm drives them to dance.

"The music is in our bodies, in our blood."

With the rhythm brought in, rehearsal still doesn't quite work.

Errors were made without realizing it, dances were untidy, there was no Guanyin's temperament at all...

Take one of the most difficult movements - the charity modeling of the circular-ringed Guanyin, where everyone's arms need to be stretched in a fixed position, not deviating or slowing down by a minute, which has deterred many people.

Later, Zhang Jigang came up with a way to measure the position of each person's arm with a ruler and draw it on the wall, and practice diligently by keeping his arm in position against the scale.

The camera recorded a scene of their sweat, until the end of the training, we get together to watch the DV, reflecting on their own shortcomings.

As for neatness, the actors created a small action: the back of the neck of the former one exhaled a breath, signaling that she can begin to do the action, so that one after another, the action is organized, neat and tidy.

Guanyin shape similar, but the charm is not a few points.

Zhang Jigang is obsessed with each gesture, beauty and flavor are indispensable.

The nine male actors in the 21-person cast clearly know nothing about it.

Zhang Jigang had them start with the orchid finger, and the instruction that they "must be exactly like the girls" left them confused.

They did it the hard way: by observing the girls' expressions and gestures day and night.

The girl smiles, they smile.

Although they basically can't show their faces, but they are still disciplined to do this to perfection, not slacking off and not lazy.

Slowly, the imitation also played some results, a few of them light step, inadvertently revealed some little girl's skillful.

And then the orchid finger, slender and soft, every move has the beauty of the mercy of the Goddess of Mercy.

After thousands of rehearsals, they can match the music, complete the action in one second, showing the Goddess of Mercy's "thousands of hands, thousands of eyes" of the divine charm, and the pace of the same, which is fast, it is hard to imagine.

Zhang Jigang saw the neat, rhythmic dance in front of his eyes, and he didn't forget his principle of directing and choreographing: "Look at the perfect" - make the imperfect work the best it can be.

He changed the Chinese yellow costumes to bright yellow, the sequins at the hem of the dresses to a translucent bronze color, added silver sequins to the nails, and added glow-in-the-dark features to the eyes in the hands of the actors.

All of this is like the Buddha's light, the world is shining with the beautiful light of humanity, symbolizing the mercy of the Goddess of Mercy.

He also carefully studied each action before the opening, alone on the hands up, round compassionate modeling frame by frame is his careful design, depicting a peacock open screen picture, deep in the hearts of the people.

Because of the special meaning of the Spring Festival Gala, he specially added the action of New Year's blessing, which has stunned all the people of the "world open screen".

The music that accompanies the dance is also wonderful, deep and elegant, encompassing the world, singing the ode to love; lingering and sad, telling the story of love and hate in this mortal world, conveying the glory of traditional Chinese culture.

But when the team was ready, they received a notice:

The Spring Festival director's team decided to cut the program from 6 minutes to 4 minutes.

Zhang Jigang didn't say a word, only softly said, "You watch it in its entirety."

The whole dance jumped up the clothes, sometimes solemn, sometimes solemn, sometimes high, sometimes hot, see the director team heart pounding, their own negation of the previous idea.

In the end, the dance was successfully oriented to the world, causing a warm reaction from the audience.

Deaf and mute, they were also once pushed to the peak of public opinion, the audience called "Guanyin sister" Tai Lihua was elected in 2005, one of China's moving figures, dedicated to the disabled as a group of voices, sworn to defend the rights and interests of people with disabilities.

Today, Tai Lihua has gone through half a decade of her life, retired to the background, nurtured children with disabilities, and then got married and had a daughter, and her life is plain and smoky.

And the group of people back then, most of them, like Tai Lihua, engaged in administrative work, no longer continue to dance on the stage.

"Thousand Hands of Guanyin" also inherited generation after generation, 16 years ago, it was in the depths of the years, that look back, pierced through the wind and smoke, became a contemporary classic, epic masterpiece.

Some people say that a "Thousand Hands of Guanyin" colorful world, after it is difficult to see such a masterpiece.

But in fact, the most touching part of this dance does not lie in its wonderful dance, but in the deaf and mute people's simple but unswerving spirit.

Zhang Jigang, who watched the children fall down and get up again countless times to train, was overcome with emotion:

"These deaf and mute performers are really not easy, and their thirst for life is to turn the impossible into possible. They are special artists, have special perseverance, special character and special realm, so they can create radiant special art."

Ordinary as they are, they crossed that sinking abyss and composed a battle song for themselves, thus creating extraordinary classics.

I think they deserve this sentence, "The world kissed me painfully, but I returned with a song."