关于当代中国十大少数民族舞剧的述评(上)

A Review of Top Ten Ethnic Minority Dance Dramas in Contemporary China(Ⅰ)

当代中国舞剧创作的语言本体最初有三个来源:一是芭蕾,二是"战士舞蹈",三是戏曲舞蹈。论及"少数民族舞剧",首先要关注的是以"战士舞蹈"为语言本体的创作。1959年凸显少数民族舞蹈本体语言的舞剧便是来源于"战士舞蹈"的《五朵红云》,而中国当代少数民族舞剧也是在黎族舞剧《五朵红云》的创编中启程的。新中国成立后,面对中国少数民族舞剧近60年的发生、发展和发达,我们的研究思路是在把握历史演变历程的基础上,梳理历史脉络并进一步揭示历史底蕴。本文以史为据,撷取当代中国兼具时代性和影响力的十大少数民族舞剧进行客观述评,旨在归纳当代中国兼具典型性和影响力的少数民族舞剧,剖其内在规律,以期对当下中国民族舞剧的创作做出重要的提示和有益的启迪。

Prologue: the 'aesthetic principles' embodied in Chinese ethnic minority dance drama In the mid-1950 s, paralleled with the 'f?irst three kicks'based on opera dance language, there emerged a number of ethnic minority dance dramas based on folk dance language of the ethnic minorities. The Outline of Chinese Dance Drama History has summarized the characteristics of the 'f?irst three kicks' as follows: Firstly, they are based on Chinese folktales, and those stories had already been adapted into successful traditional operas that could be referenced. Secondly, they all adopt the structures of the traditional operas, centering on the characters with the linkage of plots that feature the structure of 'introduction, elucidation, development, and conclusion.' Thirdly, they all focus on the 'dance-ablity' of the themes. In terms of the relationship between drama and dance, they emphasize on the theatricality and image building of the characters. Fourthly, the majority material of the dance movements is from the opera dance, using the movement, gesture, meter, rhythm, and technique of opera dance to express feeling and meaning, narrate the story, and describe scenes. These elements feature the basic styles of the dance dramas, and they are also the aesthetic principles that a large number of national dance dramas are pursuing and embodying.' 'A large number of national dance dramas' mentioned here include the ethnic minority dance dramas.I. Li ethnic minority dance drama Five Red Clouds: an 'ethnic minority' dance drama but also a 'revolutionary modern' dance drama In terms of the basis of dance drama language, we can say that Five Red Clouds is a Li ethnic minority dance drama. It is also widely regarded as a 'soldier dance drama' in the dance f?ield. As the general director, HU Guo-gang believes, 'the ‘soldier dance drama’ not only ref?lects the revolutionary life and people’s ideals and aspirations of our times, functioning in ideology and education, but also receives success in learning and mastering the creative method—‘combining revolutionary realism with revolution romanticism’—and in creating the dance drama as an artistic form of ref?lecting the real life.'The Li ethnic minority dance drama Five Red Clouds consists of four acts and seven scenes—two acts are not divided and each of the rest f?ive acts is divided into two scenes—namely, Scene One: Return, Scene Two: Rescue from Prison, Scene Three: Riots, Scene Four: First Victory, Scene Five: Seek the Party, Scene Six: March Forward, and Scene Seven: Liberation. ZHA Lie discussed on his choreography, 'The story happened in Wuzhishan, Hainan. The specif?ic environment and specif?ic events are very clear. It is no doubt that the dance drama should base on Li ethnic minority dance. Relying simply on Li ethnic minority dance as the language, however, is incapable of expressing the whole story, especially for the part of passion and f?ighting. The range of motion of the Li ethnic minority dance is relatively small, and the movement style is implicit. Hence, it is necessary not only to maintain but also to develop the characteristics and styles of the ethnic minority dance.'LONG Yin-pei wrote in his article, 'Dance dramas normally use dance language to present the plots and the emotions of the characters, which requires the choreographers to design the structure by organizing the plots that can be presented through dance. Meanwhile, it requires them to choreograph in the service of presenting the plots and the thoughts and spirits of the characters, rather than ‘dance for the sake of dance.’' Discussing on his creative experience, ZHA Lie said, 'For the solos of the main characters, we have found the dance body movements in accordance with the personality of the characters to build the images.' The Five Red Clouds was able to 'accentuate dance through drama,' 'narrate drama through dance,' and 'integrate drama with dance.' It was because the creators were aware, 'Since it is a dance drama, it shall have a dramatic structure and has to be able to express through dance...When we started to think about the story, we thought about deploying the dance structure...so as to avoid making a drama without dance or making a dance without drama.'II. Miao ethnic minority dance drama The Bindweed Flower: return to representing the theme of 'folktale'The Bindweed Flower was created and performed by Guizhou Song and Dance Troupe in 1960. Choreographed by WU Bao-an, XIAO Lian-ming and others, it was another successful attempt after the small Miao ethnic minority dance drama, Riddling Woman. The Bindweed Flower is a Miao legend happening by the side of Qingshui River in Guizhou. Beautiful and innocent Man-luo falls in love with handsome and brave hunter Adaoyue. In the f?ight against the tyrant landlord HEI Da-yang’s oppression, they both die in Qing-shui River and transform into the bindweed f?lower resting by the sides of the River. This kind of legend, using beautiful things to symbolize love, is quite common in folklore.LONG Yin-pei wrote in his critique, '(At the beginning of the dance drama) it brought us to the festival atmosphere of Miao people celebrating harvest. The Miao ethnic dance, group after group, depicts clearly the environment in which the story takes place and the custom of the Miao people. Also, it clearly represents the basic characteristics of the hero and heroine, Adaoyue and Man-luo, as well as people’s caring for them.' Certainly, dance drama is not created to show the style of the ethnic dance;it needs to reveal dramatic conf?lict. According to LONG Yin-pei, 'Tyrant landlord HEI Da-yang breaks into the ‘f?lower f?ield’...he intends to molest Man-luo, where the conf?lict begin...the tricky variations of the dance patterns represent that people are wisely making fun of HEI Da-yang. At the same, they highlight HEI’s ugly and foolish image.' It is well known that the ethnic and folk dance excels in variations in formation. It is also an appropriate way of using the variations to approach the plots and reveal the conf?licts in the Miao ethnic minority dance drama The Bindweed Flower.Based on the ethnic minority dance as the dance drama language, the fundamental characteristic of the ethnic minority dance drama consists in 'stylizing' the heritage of ethnic history and culture. The artistic achievement of The Bindweed Flower, to some extend, is that it has developed the artistic feature in the art of dance drama that combines expressing emotions with narration and combines the depiction of the character’s nature, thoughts, and emotions with artistic expression of dance. As the second ethnic minority dance drama in contemporary China, the Miao dance drama The Bindweed Flower ref?lects the 'return' in two perspectives: the creation team’s return to the 'ethnic origin' and the theme’s return to 'folktales.' The two 'returns' then have become the most important features of the 'ethnic minority dance drama.'III. Dai ethnic minority dance drama ZHAO Shu-tun and Nanmunuona: a dance drama with ethnic characteristics representing romance and taste of life ZHAO Shu-tun and Nanmunuona was performed in Beijing in October 1979. It became the f?irst 'ethnic minority dance drama' in the 'New Era.' This dance drama was created and performed by Yunnan Xishuangbanna Art Troup, and choreographed by ZHU Lan-fang, DAO Xue-min, and others. WANG Yan wrote in his article, 'The beautiful and touching story depicts the prince and princess in the Dai ancient society struggling for pursuing happy love. It is embodied the ideals and aspirations of the Dai people and thus favored by the people.' Actually, the 'stereotyped' themes are commonly seen in our 'folktales' as well as in the 'ethnic minority dance dramas' adapted from them.The Dai dance drama ZHAO Shu-tun and Nanmunuona is composed of seven acts. In Act One, the king of Mengbanjia is about to arrange a marriage for his son, Prince ZHAO Shu-tun. The prince refuses all the girls. However, Minister Xinagao tricks the king to arrange the marriage between the prince and his daughter Najinjia. In Act Two, the gold deer guides the prince to the side of gold lake. He falls in love at the f?irst sight with the seventh princess of the Peacock Empire, Nanmunuona. In Act Three, the prince asks the king to permit the marriage between the Peacock princess and him. Xinagao holds a grudge against them since then. In Act Four, Xinagao colludes with the witch giving false report that the prince died in the war and setting up that the princess is ominous. While the king is going to have the princess executed, the princess asks for dancing the 'peacock dance' for the people. By wearing the peacock costume, she f?lies back to the Peacock Empire. In Act Five, when the prince triumphs over the war and comes back, he exposes Xinagao’s conspiracy. He experiences hardship in looking for the princess. In Act Six, to test ZHAO, the queen of the Peacock Empire asks him to pick out the real princess from the seven princesses wearing the same clothes and veils. The prince presents their dance by the side of the gold lake in Act Two and chooses the right seventh princess. In Act Seven, the prince returns to Mengbanjia with the princess. The people wish their love lasting forever. It can be seen that this folktale is a good theme for dance drama. The story contains plots with ups and downs, emotions of happiness, rage, sadness, and joy, good and evil characters, and the images of the wise, the brave, and the benevolent.The Dai dance drama ZHAO Shu-tun and Nanmunuona uses three sources to develop and innovate the language of the ethnic minority dance drama. The f?irst one is the inheriting and live folk dance with hands-free, stylized, standardized adaptation. The second one is to design and choreograph the custom into dance and for stage. The third one is to restore the images from the mural materials within the resurrected cultural scenes and contexts. In fact, whether certain ethnic minority dance can be the entity of its corresponding dance drama language depends on its narrativity. And narrativity is associated with the richness and symbolism of a language. It is quite inspiring that how the Dai dance drama ZHAO Shu-tun and Nanmunuona develops and innovates the dance drama language.IV. Tibetan ethnic minority dance drama Zhuowasangmu: to fully play the role of 'dance' in the drama The second large inf?luential ethnic minority dance drama in the 'New Ear' is Zhuowasangmu, adapted from the same name play by Sichuan Chengdu Song and Dance Troupe in 1980. The choreographers include ZHONG Hua, WU Xian-de, and others. There are six acts of the dance drama: 'Hunting,' 'Falling in Love,' 'Setup,' 'Exposing Conspiracy,' 'Killing the Evil,' and 'Coronation.'SUN Tang-jin wrote in his article, 'In terms of the artistic expression methods, the choreographers center on the content and characters, in line with the Tibetan ethnic style and myth. When it comes to the expression method of the dance drama, it uses the four major Tibetan folk dances: Xianzi Dance, Guozhuang Dance, Tap Dance, and Reba Dance. Taking them as the dance basis, the dance drama also integrates Tibetan opera and ‘Dance to God.’ Considering the development of the personality, emotions, and plots, all the material is recreated and applied to different parts of the dance drama.' For a indepth understanding, we can also reference WANG Yu’s article, 'As the choreographers, how to adapt the Tibetan opera of singing into a dance drama of dancing is the f?irst issue that needs to be considered. With this question in mind, I have summarized two points from their experience. Firstly, centered on the conf?licts among the characters, they re-organize the plots and deepen the theme. Secondly, they identify the emotional lines that are not fully developed in the opera and choreograph them into scenes in the dance drama. In the climax of the dance drama, the choreographers excel at expressing the inner world of the characters—they create the ‘pas de trois’ for Zhuowasangmu saving her son and the ‘pas de deux’ for the king’s memory of love. The two pieces are excellently choreographed. In this dance drama, it can be seen that the choreographers are trying to look for the emotional elements of the characters. It aims not only to design the dance scenes but also to build the images, to fully play the role of ‘dance’ in the drama.'V. Manchu ethnic minority dance drama The Pearl Lake: to create and produce the dance drama language with Manchu characteristics Manchu ethnic minority dance drama The Pearl Lake was created and performed by Liaoning Song and Dance Ensemble in 1982 and choreographed by ZHAO Rong-wen, DAI Wen-yu, and others. It is the f?irst Manchu ethnic minority dance drama. The dance drama has six acts and a prelude. In the Prelude, a young f?isherman Shu Dong-e catches a lake clam. Out of pity, he releases it back to the lake. In Act One, to express its gratitude to SHU, the clam transforms into Princess Tana of the Pearl Empire and falls in love with SHU. In Act Two, the sons of the Sea Dragon King propose to Princess Tana, but Princess Tana only shows affection for SHU. In Act Three, SHU and Princess Tana hold a wedding ceremony in the f?ishing village. The demon Mahuzi disguises himself as a guest and steals the princess’ pearl on head, leaving the princess blind. SHU chases the demon desperately. In Act Four, SHU is defeated by the demon. To save the princess, he decides to f?ight again the next day. In Act Five, SHU breaks into the stone cave. Mahuzi f?inds it diff?icult to win SHU, pretending to return the pearl and asking the enchantress to hold SHU. Thanks to the Water Clan, Shu is saved in the end. In Act Six, Mahuzi disguises as SHU to cheat the princess. The Fairy Magpie exposes Mahuzi’s disguise. Believing SHU to be dead, the princess breaks the amulet pearl and kills herself. Upon his arrival, SHU kills Mahuzi, but the tragedy has already happened. SHU holds the princess to the center of the lake, where they become the twin peaks. Except for the tragic ending, the plots and details are similar with The Mermaid. It represents people’s 'common aspiration' in the 'folktales.'One major goal of creating the Manchu ethnic minority dance drama The Pearl Lake is to create and produce the dance drama language with Manchu characteristics. According to the article 'Let Manchu Dance Shine Again,' 'For the past hundreds of years, the Manchu dance has been growing distant from people’s life...We have made two goals: one is to discover the classics in the historical documents, and the other is to create works based on historical life.' It further argues, 'To create works based on historical life, it means to study extensively the custom, belief, ritual, productive labor, geographical environment, weddings and funerals, clothes and hairstyles, behaviors, and even the ethnic characters of the Manchu people, so as to form a dance vocabulary.' Through the creation and performance of The Pearl Lake, it can be seen that the production of a dance drama is able to promote the systematic development of the ethnic dance language. More specif?ically speaking, it can be seen that the movements and reference of the Manchu dance are quite similar with those of opera dance. And there should be certain consistency of aesthetic appeal of them.