The Five Basic Steps of Peking Opera

The five basic steps of Peking Opera are as follows:

Peking Opera is one of China's traditional art forms, with a long history and deep cultural heritage. As the milestone "flower girl" of Chinese Peking Opera, Mei Lanfang once said: "The most important thing on the stage is to walk", in which the basic steps of Peking Opera is one of the souls of the art of Peking Opera performance. The following will introduce the five basic steps of Peking Opera.

1. Sanbanbu

Sanbanbu, also known as the "skillful step", is one of the most commonly used steps in Peking Opera. It is characterized by a foot first on the ground, turn around, put up the other foot, and then after another step, the second foot and then press the knee and elbow joint bending, to complete a "three boards" step.

This kind of step is named after the characteristic of "board board as one". The three-board step requires attention to the coordination of footwork and hand gestures, such as: when the left foot is on the board, the left hand is swung forward; when the right foot is on the board, the right hand is raised backward, so as to make an organic combination of dynamic and static.

2. Xuanzongbu

Xuanzongbu is one of the most difficult basic steps in Peking Opera. It is characterized by small intervals between the feet, the shoulders are used to squeeze out the power when turning around, and the whole image of the person is very beautiful. If it is in the opera performance in the knee walking, the rest will weaken the difficulty, and can be added to the Xuanzong step in the flower branch as, more intense stacked towards the green wonderful.

3. Drawing Half Bow Step

Drawing Half Bow Step is a relatively simple step. This step is mainly a hand straight, elevated, the other hand rests on the side of the body, the leg first open to the outside, and then moved forward, and then increase the body of the smooth upward bowing into the step. This kind of footwork needs to pay attention to the coordination and contraction of the body, so that the coherent process from the half-bow to the full bow has a very gorgeous transition.

4. Back to shape step

Back to shape step is a variation of the step, its steps: the right foot step forward, the left foot followed by the right foot slightly raised, "two four" step characteristics. It is important that the foot has a sliding character when performing, and that the movement back to the form is accomplished naturally.

5. Drag step

The drag step basically means dragging one toe or one foot close to the ground. In practice, Peking Opera performers often combine the shuffling step with other footwork. For example, in performing the stabbing guide, the shuffling step is combined with the half-bow landing, thus creating those ideal images of flying towards the flowers and the silhouettes of people reaching out. In addition to this, there is a small amount of shuffling when performing foot presses and heel braces.

The above are the five basic steps of Peking Opera. Although the footwork presented on the stage has changed with the constant change of the modern starting point, these classic footwork is still the foundation and pillar of Peking Opera performing art, and is the eternal charm of Peking Opera art.