Although I have never met Fat Tang and Thin Song, I really want to know their current pursuit and action, because I am familiar with Zhao Xiaogang and Zhang Yunfeng. I know Zhang Yunfeng, probably at 1996. At that time, I had just served as the vice president of Beijing Dance Academy, and Zhang Jigang and others were invited to be the judges of Fujian Dance Competition. At that time, Zhang Yunfeng, who worked in Longyanshan Troupe, caught my attention. Although a three-person dance he created at that time won the third prize (the name of the dance has been forgotten), I saw his potential and provided him with the opportunity to study the choreography major of Beijing Dance Academy for one year for free. After that, he entered the undergraduate course through further study, which will be another story, and will be left to another account when appropriate. It's a little late to know about Zhao Xiaogang. I mentioned the specific situation in an article signed by Hongji. This is probably the earliest introduction to Zhao Xiaogang's dance criticism, entitled "Dance Construction of Traditional Culture" (Dance 1999 No.5), with the subtitle "Zhao Xiaogang's and Others". The article comes straight to the point: "Zhao Xiaogang is a fresh graduate of Guangdong class majoring in choreography in Beijing Dance Academy. This specialized class organized by Guangdong Dance School held a performance of "Graduation Report" at the salon stage of Beijing Dance Academy. Zhao Xiaogang caught my attention because he reported three works in his performance-Women's Sketch, Spring and Autumn Annals and Wives. I am particularly interested in Zhao Xiaogang because his three works show the same orientation-that is, using dance to construct the heritage of traditional culture. "
Suddenly, I feel that the dance poetic drama Lotus is still "building the heritage of traditional culture with dance"! Although the performance started at 7: 30, not long after 7: 00, Huang's "Dunhuang Painted Sculpture" stood gracefully on the small lotus terrace outside the curtain, attracting the audience's "beautiful shot" from time to time. This yellow reminds me of Huayang 35 years ago, his solo dance "Dunhuang Painted Sculpture" in the first national dance competition, and that song "Live". It was not until the "sculptor" played by Wang Zihan stepped onto the stage and devoted himself to studying, stroking and stroking "painted sculptures" that I realized that we would enter another situation-a situation where the story of "sculptor" and "painted sculptures" would begin; Why and how "sculptor" describes a story; A story scene about how "painted sculpture" is clever and how "sculptor" is unique.
The curtain slowly opened, and we entered the first scene called "sculpture": a row of dancers sat in a convex arc, which at first I thought was a sacred "lotus platform"; When the dance line moves and deforms with the clockwise rotation of the stage, we know that this "arc" is an "arc" rather than a "circle". Later, I read in a magazine that "the crescent moon spring is nestled in the arms of Mingsha Mountain and the nebula flows in the beautiful shadow of Brahma ...", but I realized that I was in no hurry-once upon a time, there was a mountain (Mingsha Mountain) with a spring (crescent moon spring). "The sculptor saw in it that the dance of water gushing like a blooming lotus flower was listed as ripples, and then Suddenly, those who have imitated "spring" are imitating "waves" There are clear springs flowing in the desert ... This reminds me of Mr. Wu Xiaobang's high hopes for China's new dance art in the early 1980s. He said: "On the issue of creation, we should not only break the conservative concept, but also respect China's traditional artistic habits-this is a universal law, and it is also the difference between our dance thought and the new school of American modern dance" (On the influence of modern dance on China's new dance art).
The dance drama Lotus not only has both form and spirit, but also interacts with form and spirit. A sculptor with a "lotus" in his chest wants to shape the "lotus" in his chest into a "lotus" around him. Can you make it clear whether this is the externalization of "image" or the materialization of "god" Zhao Xiaogang is very simple, and the complicated idea has been dealt with simply-he made the sculptor trudge with "plastic mud" on his back ... In order to make the future "painting plastic" look like a "plastic mud" to be molded, he also wrapped it in a piece of linen, and only the heart and the heart can be untied to make a statue for it. In this "walking" situation, Zhao Xiaogang also specially asked the sculptor to carry the "plastic mud" to the edge of the platform, so that the sculptor could invite the audience in front to participate in the planning and provide creativity! Here, the "crossing" of time and space becomes an artistic metaphor, and the sculptor's "thinking hard" embodies a kind of "foresight"-he wants to transcend the limitations of individual life to shape the eternity of human spirit. The magazine "Field" says that "sculptors begin to travel with colorful sculptures/explore the origin of life during their travels". It should be pointed out that at this time, the sculptor only carries the "plastic mud" of the future "colored plastic"; The so-called "exploring the origin of life" is intended to think about how to endow "painted sculpture" with "soul"-it seems that "painted sculpture" should not only weigh "color with class", but also weigh "color with soul"!
In view of the above understanding, let me comment on this dance called "The Origin of Life, the Painted Soul". But from this point of view, in the second case, Luohan King Kong has some dazzling dances, and in the third case, dancers similar to Avatar are too indulgent, too restless and too noisy in my opinion ... Zhao Xiaogang said that this is actually still a profound description of the image of plastic ingenuity-some dances of Luohan King Kong with dazzling skills reflect the "infinite inspiration" of plastic craftsmen, while those similar to those. However, to be fair, if there are no gorgeous dance fragments to embody "dance", wouldn't it be more boring for sculptors who always walk around with "painted sculptures" on their backs? ! In fact, it is very particular that the poetic drama Lotus is composed of three chapters: sculpture, travel and farewell: What did sculpture do to make us reflect on life? "Travel" is to make us reflect on how to live. "Don't" is to let us reflect on what life is for. I have always thought that this dance poetic drama should be enriched in two aspects: one is to enrich the inner richness of the sculptor. It seems a little simplistic for him to create "plastic beauty" from the surging "lotus flower" in the crescent spring. Can he also have the right person to "toss" and finally integrate with "painted sculpture"? Secondly, we should enrich the richness of "painted plastic" modeling. It seems a little simplistic to change her from a group of "plastic clay" to a "colored plastic". Can she have the opportunity to become a saint by channeling, and then sublimate the "channel skills" of the "sculptor" with rich dances?
From the dance vocabulary of poetry and drama, we can see Zhao Xiaogang's familiarity with Dunhuang Dance. However, from the perspective of poetic drama shaping dancers, Zhao Xiaogang did not show off "Dunhuang Dance". The poetic drama Lotus makes us understand that the modernity of dance creation lies not in the strangeness of dance vocabulary, but in the foresight of life belief. I remember reading the "Graduation Ceremony Report" held by Zhao Xiaogang and his classmates. Experts attending the symposium generally believe that the traditional theme of this exercise has modern consciousness and the modern techniques of the exercise also have traditional connotations. But at that time, most people still thought that it was a deficiency that the creative ability of exercises greatly exceeded the ability of language design. At that time, I thought, "Zhao Xiaogang has a relatively mature language design ability. This makes his series of works, such as Wives and Concubines, not only good at the legacy of traditional culture, but also win with the construction of dance language (see Dance No.5, 1999). In my opinion, the creative idea of the dance poetic drama Lotus and the visualization of its works have at least two meanings today: on the one hand, don't believe the frivolous saying that "every modern dancer is creating his own rules", and there is such a "rule" that transcends the nation and even the country waiting for you to "create". On the other hand, don't think that "what to dance" determines a certain dance. Lin Huaimin danced "Nine Songs" and Zhao Xiaogang danced "Dunhuang" not for "classical dance" but for "modernity" ... Similarly, "classical dance", as an action form with traditional cultural connotation, can strengthen national connotation and national spirit in the expression of contemporary themes. If we carefully consider the reason why "China Modern Dance" is "Infinite Dance", we will know that "China Classical Dance" created by New China is the technical support and aesthetic guidance of "China Modern Dance", which is not profound! How beautiful! You did a good job. The reason why "China classical dance" became the soul of "China modern dance" is precisely because we explored the origin of China dance!