Showing the Charm and Power of Women: The Dance Drama “Thirteen Beauties of Jinling” Opens in Chengdu
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Zhang Shihao
On April 16, the launching ceremony for the 2024 national tour and Chengdu premiere of the dance drama “Jinling Thirteen Hairpins” was held at the Chengdu High-tech Center Performing Arts Theatre. Lang Kun, the famous director and chief director of the dance drama “Thirteen Hairpins in Jinling” and the creative team of the show attended the launching ceremony.
The performance of the dance drama in Chengdu was introduced by Chengdu Media Group and Chengdu Tianfu Film Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of its listed company Borui Communications, in conjunction with the Chengdu High-tech China Performance Theater. Tickets will go on sale on April 18th and will premiere in Chengdu from June 21st to 22nd, thus starting a second round of nationwide tour with 20 performances.
The show’s opening scene is astonishing. The dim light reflected thirteen slender and beautiful silhouettes. They were bright and moving but fell silent in an instant. An uncontrollable feeling of pity draws the viewer into the war-torn era and into the touching story of “the flower of women blooming as brightly as the morning glow”.
The heroine Yu Mo supported each other and grew up together with her sisters during the war. The whole performance was vivid, smooth and natural. The actors’ glances, smiles and every gesture showed the charm and power of women.
Wang Jiaxin, who plays Yu Mo, said that the role needs to be portrayed in a more three-dimensional and fuller manner in the dance drama, so as to bring an all-round Yu Mo to the audience, not just her bright side. Zhang Ziman, who plays Hong Ling, said that it is necessary to control the emotions from the psychological changes of the character, “Hong Ling looks very strong, sharp, and aggressive on the outside, but in fact she is fearless, frank, and kind.”
The dance drama has a strong team and is well-produced. Lang Kun serves as the chief director, screenwriter Feng Shuangbai writes the script, composer Fang Ming composes the music, Shang Tianbao serves as the stage designer, and young dancers from national-level troupes lead the cast. Lang Kun said that the crew has begun to enter the training stage. Lang Kun believes that Chengdu is a big cultural and tourism city with a high cultural quality of the audience. He believes that the premiere of the dance drama “Jinling Thirteen Hairpins” in Chengdu will be very successful.
It is worth mentioning that the stage design of this play extracts the element of “city bricks”. Each city brick is engraved with the name of the woman who died, and the change of the city wall from complete to mottled not only brings a visual impact to the audience, but also Drives the plot development of the entire play. In addition, the play uses innovative stage technology and combines modern sound, light, electricity and other elements to reproduce the war scenes in front of the audience, making the originally silent stage burst out with fresh tension, and the audience can feel the immersive experience In that war-torn era. “At the opening, they just came to me with a smile, and I was already in tears.” The audience once left such a message after watching the first round of performances.