扬本性 去同质 显个性——“第十届中国舞蹈‘荷花奖’舞剧·舞蹈诗评奖”获奖作品点评

Unleash Nature, Eliminate Homogenization,and Demonstrate Individuality: A Review of "The 10th 'Lotus Awards' China National Dance Competition" Dance Drama and Dance Poetry Awards

"第十届中国舞蹈'荷花奖'舞剧·舞蹈诗评奖"于2016年12月9日落下帷幕,进入决赛的《杜甫》《仓央嘉措》《家》《哈姆雷特》《朱鹤》这五部舞剧在编舞、制作等方面都趋于精良,从中可见舞剧、舞蹈诗创作的质量在进一步提高。这五部作品的创作在某些方面试图解决舞剧创作面对的种种亟待解决的问题,但也暴露出舞剧艺术创作根本性的问题。本文将从舞剧的本体叙事层面的得与失和人物形象塑造方面的成与败来探讨中国舞剧发展的现状及所存在的问题。

'The 10 th ’Lotus Awards’ China National Dance Competition' Dance Drama and Dance Poetry Awards were announced on December 9 th, 2016. The competition focuses on the dance drama works in recent years,nominating five finalists from more than 60 dance drama works, namely, DU Fu, Tsangyang Gyatso, The Family,Hamlet, and Crested Ibises. Each of these five works tries to solve the problems confronted by the dance drama creation in certain aspect, while they reveal the fundamental issue of the artistic creation of dance drama.I. Pros and cons of the ontological narration The dance drama narration, in real sense, is subject to the ontological characteristics of dance art. As dance is an art of expressing emotions through body language, the director of dance drama should deal with the original space of the narrative or script, so as to construct the space and time specific for stage. The author believes that the dance dramas DU Fu and Hamlet make relatively good exploration in that regard. In DU Fu, the dual time-space structural means is used in the main structure to present the DU Fu in cruel reality and the one with the good will towards home and country simultaneously, and to lay out the dance drama structure upon the fierce conflict between men and the environment. This structure itself has formed the choreographer’s language for main narration. The dance drama Hamlet takes the psychological development of the characters as the clues to break the clockwise structure of the time and space, trying to depict a tragic character that is suffering so much and is driven by destiny and interrogated by human nature. From the very beginning of the dance drama, the specific time and space of the work are set at the specific time and specific space, along with the inner struggle of Hamlet, who is in the struggle of 'to be or not to be' and in the whirlpool of slaughtering or escaping, space-time is naturally expanding. Besides,the stage design is remodeled in the dance drama. Stage design, along with its symbolic meaning, involves in the narration as a language and in an effective way. The author contends that,compared with the above two works, there is some weakness in the structures of the dance dramas Tsangyang Gyatso and The Family. A flashback narrative is adopted in Tsangyang Gyatso. However, the comparison between the brutal and suppressive space in reality and the free space in imagination is inadequate, resulting in that the image of Tsangyang Gyatso is not prominent enough. The author argues that the construction of the dual space precisely composes both the subtexts of the dance drama and the inner lines of the characters. It can be made great use by the ontological narration of dance drama. The author further holds that the artistic means of space-time structure should not be regarded as the focus of whether a dance drama is innovative or not;rather, it should be regarded as an essential element of the features and means of ontological narration of dance drama. As the essential element, it is not a problem of being old or new,but a problem of whether the choreographer has the real ability to manage and make use of it. In terms of structure,The Family and Crested Ibises are the two most 'traditional'dance drama works among the five finalists.II. Success and failure of the image building of the characters All the five finalist performances happen to have connection with 'images.' According to the author, when it comes to the image building of the characters in a dance drama,the most important thing is to build the characters in the environment and represent the characters within the conflict between people and the environment. The author believes that the dance drama Hamlet is relatively successful than other works, for the choreographer keeps building the image of Hamlet upon the emotional conflicts between Hamlet and his surrounding characters. Those different characters not only turn up for events but also represent the environmental elements corresponding to the inner feelings of the characters. The choreographer of The Family is too cautious in dealing with the group images and lacks artistic means to express the 'contrasting relationships among characters' in building the individuality of different characters. Especially, it lacks a specific environment in which the actions and inner activities of different characters can represent simultaneously. To consider building the main character in the dance drama Tsangyang Gyatso against the scenario, the figure is slightly weak in the author’s view. However, it is a very vivid figure in terms of building the character through choreography.The choreographer ingeniously uses the kasaya as the prop, and all the ups and downs of Tsangyang Gyatso’s emotions and life experiences are represented through the coordination between the performers’ body movements and the symbolic meaning of the kasaya. Based on this,along with the perfect physical and mental state of the performer who plays Tsangyang Gyatso, the image of the character looks even more striking.Between the performances, the author interviewed the sub-party secretary and vice president of the Chinese Dancers Association LUO Bin. Mr. LUO pointed out that the biggest issue in creating contemporary Chinese dance drama was the dominating tendency of 'homogeneity.'Although there is no 'homogeneity' in terms of the themes of the five finalists, the author argues that this issue is shown in the specific choreography of dance language.For example, the choreography of the partner dances is normally disconnected with the characters’ emotions;it is rather a display of physical and technical skills. Another example is the choreography of the solo dances. It is also disconnected with the specific environment, where the character is situated, and with the specific psychological feelings. It is more about the physical technique and moving features of that performer. The dance language is relatively neutral in the sense of movement quality and lacks unique spatial form, change of power, and smooth links that can coincide with the 'drama' in dance drama.