In the just past Chinese traditional festival “Qixi”, Henan Satellite TV’s “2022 Qixi Wonderful Tour”, like the previous works such as “Tang Palace Night Banquet”, “Luoshen Shui Fu”, “Cloud Gate King Kong” and other works, exploded social platforms. This year, the dance drama “Only Blue and Green”, which has toured in many places, is hard to get a ticket, and the dance drama “Eternal Wave”, “Li Bai”, “Confucius” and “Five Stars in the East” have also attracted young people. From July 21, the list of “Breaking the Circle” dance dramas has been updated again – after the dance drama “Wake Up Lion” landed on the “1 Yuan Cloud Theater”, the live performance attracted more than 3.4 million people to watch, becoming a hot spot in Sichuan, Guangdong and even the whole country. cultural events.
The “broken circle” effect of the dance drama “Awakening Lion” made Qian Xin, the chief editor and director of the play, dizzy. While not delaying the rehearsal of the new work, he connected with various visiting video platforms to communicate the possible use of live performances, More and better presentations. On August 15th, Qian Xin accepted an exclusive interview with Cover News to talk about his views and opinions on dance drama art.
Explore the combination of new media and live art
“At the moment of the epidemic, every work and every literary and art troupe is struggling. The performance of each work is based on the hard work of the troupe and the main creative team, which cannot be measured by money. I hope everyone is right because Appreciation rather than sympathy for dance drama art. Thank you to every audience who cares about the big lion, and to every audience who is willing to walk into the theater to watch the dance drama. See you on the cloud of the big lion at 7:30 tonight.” July 21, Qian When Xin forwarded the “1 yuan live broadcast” poster of “Awakening Lion”, he wrote such a paragraph in his circle of friends.
That night, with the gorgeous choreography effects, solid basic skills of the actors and excellent script and choreography, “Awakening Lion” made more than 3 million netizens feel the charm of Lingnan culture. Looking back at the huge popularity of the live performance of “Awakening Lion”, Qian Xin was excited but also worried, “Dance drama is not easy to get out of the circle, and the live broadcast format is also very good. But I hope that everyone will watch the drama because of the work. The artistic charm of its own is due to the love of dance drama and dance, and the love of the work “Awakening Lion”, not because of other factors.” In Qian Xin’s view, dance drama is a live art, and it is inseparable from the actors and the audience. An immersive experience of synchronicity, co-location and resonance in space. “In ancient times and in China and abroad, no matter any type of stage play in the East or the West, a sense of presence, ceremony and immersion has been constructed in the theater.”
Qian Xin (third from left) put the finishing touches on the lion’s head
However, the capricious and “unexpected” epidemic has brought a bleak to the return of dance drama and other theater arts. This not only dampened the audience’s interest in going offline, but also forced theater practitioners to explore new performance forms. “When we do stage plays, we hope that the audience can enter the theater. Because theater art and TV art do have a little difference. But in the current epidemic, adopting online live broadcast is not necessarily a good performance strategy.”
Qian Xin understands that once, the threshold of the elegant art circle discouraged many people, but the new online live broadcast and “cloud” performance opened the curtain that blocked the public’s vision, allowing more people to see the beauty blooming on the stage. “However, the onlineization of live art still needs to continue to be deeply explored, and requires the cooperation of choreographers, actors, theaters, lighting, sound, stage equipment, shooting teams, technicians, etc., to use the most quintessential parts of the dance drama with the best The most accurate TV language, showing the effect of ‘online is there’.”
He also hopes that online performances can become the “hardware” of the work itself, attracting traffic for subsequent offline performances, and cultivating a broader stage art market with greater “accommodation”.
Qian Xin and his partner Wang Sisi
Adapt to local conditions
Show the charm of local dance
As a young choreographer of the post-80s generation in the Chinese dance industry, Qian Xin has directed many high-quality dance dramas. Among them, “Awakening Lion” won the 11th Chinese Dance “Lotus Award” Dance Drama Award. The Nanyue intangible cultural heritage project is integrated into one drama, allowing people to read the Lingnan culture at a glance; in “Effort Meal”, which won the Dance Drama Award of the 12th China Dance Lotus Award, Sichuan Opera’s face changing, Dangdang car, hot pot, Sichuan folk songs, etc. are unique. The characteristic Bashu cultural symbols show the “fireworks” that belongs to the Sichuanese; the dance drama “Dragon Boat”, which is currently participating in the “National Excellent Realistic Dance Drama Exhibition”, presents the culture of the thousand-year-old dragon boat with innovative and diverse expressions. Heritage and new era expression.
The above three works also precisely reflect the creative concept of Qian Xin and his partner Wang Sisi – “one side of the soil and one side of the people”. It is also their creative goal to combine the invisible traditional cultural spirit with tangible dance performances. “The scenes of eating hot pot and basking in the sun in “Eat Hard Meal”, the scenes of drinking tea, boxing, and lion dance in “Wake Up Lions”, the customs of dragons, drunk dragons, dragon races, and dragon tours in “Dragon Boat” These are all tangible, but what really reflects behind this is the spiritual temperament of the people in this place. The combination of these two things is the excavation of traditional culture. It is not only necessary to excavate the external form of traditional culture , but also to explore the characteristics of the local people’s bones, that is, to grasp what kind of people they are performing, what kind of quality spirit and spirit they possess.”
Qian Xin, Wang Sisi and actors
In the process of creating dance dramas, Qian Xin will use the strong regional culture as the foundation, and at the same time explore the unique style of each dance. “Different regions have different spiritual beliefs, different groups of people, and different ages. We strive to fit the theme and let each work have an independent personality, just like Chengdu is different from Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. It is innate. The character of the city that came here is a foothold for our creation.” Different themes, different creative directions, and different creative techniques, ranging from the arrangement of the plot and the processing of music, to the power of body movements and the use of dance language. , Qian Xin strives to write and direct each work that has its own characteristics and cannot be copied.
Of course, dance language should also evolve and innovate according to the development of the times. “Each era has its own aesthetics. What we do is to transform, process, and refine the long-standing Chinese dance language into a language that is in line with contemporary people’s aesthetics and modern stage art.” Qian Xin said, Inheriting traditional culture is the responsibility of the dancers. “We have found our own national dance vocabulary, and we have to carry forward it and hope to have an impact on the dance culture of the world. I think it is no use. We are honored that the dance vocabulary we create and use is grown on the land of China. The dance language that has been tempered for thousands of years is a way to let the world know Chinese culture and art.”
Qian Xin and Wang Sisi share the story of dance drama creation
Carry forward tradition
Infiltrate Chinese culture to the core
Qian Xin has a period of at least one year to create a dance drama. “After finishing the line in Guangzhou, pack up the things, and then go to Sichuan to continue the line. In the 12 months of the year, there are 10-11 months in other cities. There are really too few family members in Beijing.” Although it is a pity, every time he performs his works, Qian Xin’s family will come to the scene to support. “Although I don’t always stay by my daughter’s side, she feels that her father is doing an amazing thing, and she will proudly tell her teachers and classmates, ‘This is my father’s work, I like it very much, I love watching it’, This is also my explanation to her, to my family, to the audience, and to myself. Every day that I can’t be with my daughter must be worth living.”
Especially when she was shopping with her daughter, when she saw the element of Awakening Lion, she immediately said: “Dad, watch “Awakening Lion”, Qian Xin would feel inexplicable kindness. “The infiltration of traditional culture to me is that no matter where I go, I can feel a strong sense of national pride and a humanistic spirit. Anywhere in the world, you can feel the long history of Chinese culture. This kind of attachment and emotion is integrated into the bones and blood.” The belief intertwined between the deep family affection and the strong cultural identity is the source and driving force of Qian Xin’s artistic creation.
Qian Xin
“My partner Wang Sisi and I are pondering the creation of works all the time. Even if we watch short videos, watch movies and TV, go to collect winds, or even go shopping for dinner, we all hope to capture some valuable things and some interesting points in it. Only by throwing myself into the creation of dance dramas can I let such a feeling flow in my blood and make this work well.” In addition to the high investment of time and energy, Qian Xin is also a “perfectionist”, he Never let go of any details in the dance drama, “Striving for perfection is a kind of spirit of our generation of young directors. If we don’t thoroughly understand the dance drama and grow it in our blood, we have no way to face the actors, no way to make them Emotions are generated, and a sense of awe for this theme and dance drama is generated, and there is no way to rehearse.”
Over the years, through the continuous efforts and innovations of many dance drama people, a large number of outstanding dance drama works have gained their own fan base. “During the performance of “Dragon Boat”, many fans braved the heavy rain and lined up outside waiting for the dancers to sign autographs. The moment I saw them, I felt that everything was worth it.” As a Chinese dancer, Qian Xin He will continue to work hard to create more high-quality dance dramas. He also hopes that more audiences can enter the theater. “As long as everyone likes Chinese dance dramas and dances, we are all willing to fight for it.”
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