关于当代中国十大少数民族舞剧的述评(下)

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

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,剖析其内在规律,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。

VI.Mongolian ethnic minority dance drama Senjidema: using duets to support the dramatic structure of the dance drama According to the statistics in The Outline of Chinese Dance Drama History, there had been eight Mongolian dance dramas by the end of 1980 s, among which Inner Mongolia Erdos Song and Dance Ensemble’s Senjidema(choreographed by WANG Shi-qi, Zhana, and Daoerji) was the most influential one. The dance drama is composed of five acts. In Act One, 'Fall in Love at the Temple Fair,' Senjidema falls in love with Burigude at the temple fair;the Little Prince covets Senjidema’s heart. In Act Two, 'Intense Affection,' Senjidema is saved by Burigude while being dragged by a horse in the prairie. Senjidema expresses her affection to him. However, her father, Deligeer has received the betrothal gift for her, promising the marriage between the Little Prince and her. In Act Three, 'Tie the Knot,' Senjidema opposes the arranged marriage. She elopes with Burigude and marries him in the prairie. The Little Prince sends stewards to catch them. Senjidema threatens suicide, forcing the stewards to let Burigude go. In Act Four, 'Blood and Tear at Wedding Ceremony,' the wedding of Senjidema and the Little Prince is held at the Prince’s mansion. In Act Five, 'Reunion in the Underworld,' Senjidema goes on hunger strike over the wedding and faints. She has illusion of her reunion with Burigude. Meanwhile, Burigude comes to save her. Senjidema dies in his arms, and Burigude is distraught and swears that he would reunite with Senjidema in the underworld. Joining the choreographing team, the well-known choreographer WANG Shi-qi said, 'In the process of creating Senjidema, we have put great attention, imagination, and creative passion to the artistic effect of the solo, duet, and trio dances. There are four full duet dances in the dance drama: ‘Fall in Love’ in Act Two, ‘Tie the Knot’ in Act Three, and ‘Reunion’ and ‘Death and Love’ in Act Five. The duet dances have different characteristics. As the vital parts of the overall idea supporting the dramatic structure of Senjidema, they reveal the philosophical emotional power of the main characters, resulting in a strong aesthetic effect. We try to choreograph the four duets in an extensive way and look for different features for each one, exploring the inner world of the main characters in multiple perspectives and in deep sense, so as to represent the emotional conflicts in a concrete yet variable way.'VII. Korean ethnic minority dance drama The Story of Chunhyang: the high level integration of aesthetics and theatricality Choreographed by CUI Yu-zhu, Jilin Province Yanbian Song and Dance Troupe’s The Story of Chunhyang is one of the most influential dance dramas in the early 1990 s. It consists of five acts and seven scenes: Act One 'Spring Outing,' including Scene One 'Fall in Love' and Scene Two 'Wonderful Date,' Act Two 'Unwilling to Part,' Act Three 'Sudden Change,' including Scene One 'Beauty Contest' and Scene Two 'In Prison,' Act Four 'Reunion,' including Scene One 'Pass Message,' Scene Two 'Entrust to Mother,' and Scene Three 'Reunion,' and Act Five 'Eliminate the Evil.' HU Er-yan wrote in his article, 'Adapting the literary masterpiece The Story of Chunhyang into the homonymous dance drama, CUI Yu-zhu fully demonstrates the features of Korean dance, which is light and beautiful, and reserved. Along with the beautiful stage, costume, and dancers(especially those female dancers), the dance drama certainly has raised the bar for the dance dramas with traditional opera structures, featuring using group dances to set the ambience and mood.'According to HU Er-yan, 'The inner power of a dance drama can be identified as the maturity of the development of the main character’s traits. Especially in a dance drama with a dramatic structure, the main characters’ traits should grow into the full-fledged as the plots develop. Moreover, the traits and images become visible through solos and duets expressing structured and orderly emotions.' He further commented, 'There are three long duets in The Story of Chunhyang. In terms of the structure of the scenario, the three pieces are arranged at three key points of the plots. In terms of the structure of the dance drama, each of the three pieces has a clear ‘inner core,’ which gives the choreographers the freedom to improvise. In terms of the choices of the dance language materials, they are mainly from Korean dance. Although some lifts use other dance styles for reference, the main materials are clearly highlighted, which will not give an impression of being disarrayed and muddled on the dance pieces.' Comparatively speaking, both the Mongolian dance drama Senjidema and the Korean dance drama The Story of Chunhyang emphasize the function of the duets to support the structure of a dance drama. It has greatly improved the aesthetic form of creating an 'ethnic minority dance drama.'VIII. Yi ethnic minority dance drama Ashima: 'transform drama into dance,' the basic idea of forming the structure of the dance drama In 1994, six large dance dramas were selected as the '20 th century Chinese dance classics.' Among them, Yi dance drama Ashima, choreographed by ZHOU Pei-wu, ZHAO Hui-he, and others, was the only ethnic minority dance drama. LI Yu-shan pointed out, 'The real value of Ashima consists in breaking away from the traditional three main lines of the story—class conflict, production and labor, and love tragedy... The dance drama Ashima has expanded the fourth main line, so called ‘nature main line.’ The choreographers think outside of the box, free from the restrictions of the epic poetry forms. They have choreographed both inside and outside the story. And they have presented the large ethnic minority dance drama completely with a new look and ‘without dividing into any scene.’' One of the main choreographers of Ashima, ZHAO Hui-he once said, '‘Transforming drama into dance is the basic idea of forming Ashima’s structure. We comprehend the rules of dance and lay out the plots from the emotional perspective of Ashima, resulting in a structure specific to Ashima, with no scenes and framed by color blocks. Besides, we use Yi ethnic minority group’s customs in the dance drama, integrating the unique ethnic convention, costume, dance and rhythm, and music together. We make full use of the regional ethnic culture and ethnic dance. In addition, we strive to interweave the group dances with solos in a significant, figurative, and contextual way. Using the group dances to bring out the solos, we try to give the ethnic dances more profound meanings and more powerful expression. In a word, what we have pursued is that the ethnic dance would explore the tradition in a deeper level and would be recreated and composed by using modern spirit.' It can be said that the 'beauty of structure and integration' in the Yi dance drama Ashima has achieved a height that no other ethnic minority dance dramas can attain to. IX. Zhuang ethnic minority dance drama Legend of the Sun: the in-depth ethnic characteristics, the internal logic of the context of dance drama Legend of the Sun, choreographed by DING Wei, is not only the first Zhuang dance drama, but also the first ethnic minority dance drama awarded the 'Ten Best Productions' of the year of the 'National Project for the Distillation of Stage Art.' Hence, there were a number of critiques on the dance drama. The author used to write in his critique, 'Since the 1990 s, there have been ‘three trends’ in China’s dance drama creation—accompanied b y s y m p h o n y, f o r m e d i n d r a m a a n d p o e t r y, a n d contextualization. As a ‘contextual dance drama,’ the first half of the Legend of the Sun is setting the circumstances for the mother Ma. The setting and changes of the circumstances are mainly in natural context, depicting Ma’s character of never surrendering to the difficult and dangerous situations. The second half of the dance drama is setting the circumstances for the son Le, depicting his character of never indulging himself in ease and pleasure. The consistency of depicting the characters of the main figures enables the montage ‘contexts’ of the dance drama to have a internal logic, a ‘logic’ of the belief attached to the characters and penetrated into the ethnic characteristics...'ZHAO Guo-zheng wrote, 'The projected opening texts of Legend of the Sun are as follows: Long long ago, we lived in a lightless place. A beautiful and pregnant Zhuang mother, Ma, went to the end of the sky in search of the Sun. During the journey, she gave birth to her son, Le, and trained him to be a fearless and committed man. Unfortunately, she could not make to the end of it and passed away. Later, Le met and fell in love with Sister Teng. They traveled along together and continued the journey in pursuit of the sunshine... With a simple story, well-knit characters, and prominent behaviors against a backdrop of a difficult journey over dreamlike mountains and rivers, this dance drama has both fable and poetry features.' The essence of the structure of Legend of the Sun consists in the nature of the characters and the ethnic psychological logic within it, which includes not only the core elements of the plots but also the spiritual elements in a broader sense. The so-called 'situational dance drama' is quite narrative. The narration is formed not only by dance movement as the main language but also by the actions of the plots, characters, and emotions contained in the dramatic structure. In other words, the narrative function of the 'dance' builds the features of the 'drama,' achieving the 'context' of the dance drama in a way of 'narrating in dance and dance in narration.' X. Hui ethnic minority dance drama Hua’er : going into the distance with singing the western folk songs From 2007 to 2010, there were two large-scale Hui dance dramas emerged in Ningxia. They were The Moon over the Helan Mountain(directed by YANG Xiao-yang) and Hua’er(directed by ZHANG Ji-gang). Comparatively speaking, The Moon over the Helan Mountain tells a story about 'One Belt, One Road,' while Hua’er retells a 'folklore.' WU Feng wrote in his article, 'The Hui dance drama Hua’er represents an ordinary yet poignant love legend. The pure love between the songstress Hua’er and the shepherd YANG Ge was sabotaged by the powerful CAO Da. Having been with YANG Ge and Hua’er in life and death, the sheep saved Hua’er and her child by giving their lives, going into the distance with the western folk song, ‘I Will Keep Living Like This as Long as I’m Alive.’'This paper’s author wrote in his article, 'The story of the dance drama Hua’er is not complicated. It is refreshing because of the unique idea of ‘harmony between man and sheep,’ of the understanding and communication between man and sheep, and of the kindness, smartness, and warmth of the nature of sheep in contrast to the brutality, fool, and ignorance of the nature of man.' He further pointed out, 'The dance drama Hua’er gives inspirations in eight perspectives. The first one is the ‘empty space.’ Dance dramas shall avoid using crowded space. This is not only because that they shall leave space for the dancers to perform, but also because that it needs the space for the development of the plots of the dance drama. The second one is the ‘pure motivation.’ For a dance drama, it needs a distinct imaginary theme, and ‘the motivation of the theme’ shall avoid being confusing. The third one is the ‘unique idea.’ And the fourth one is the ‘delicate elaboration.’ In my opinion, the choreography of the group dances shall avoid being careless and instead make use of the ‘texture’ of music to elaborate. And the other four inspirations are strong contrast, startling intelligence, profound emotions, and in-depth significance. Due to limitation of space, I will not elaborate further on these four points.' In the author’s eyes, ZHANG Ji-gang’s work, 'Dedicated to My Parents,' showed at Beijing Dance Academy in 1990 s, left an impression of the belief that 'if there is a handful of loess,there will be no hungry people,' while the dance drama Hua’er let the author remember ZHANG’s persistence in 'I Will Keep Living Like This as Long as I’m Alive.'Conclusion: wish the 'ethnic dance dramas' in a colorful, harmonious, and commonly prosperous state For the author, there are three principles to choose and review the 'ethnic minority dance dramas in contemporary China.' Firstly, the creation of the different ethnic minority dance dramas differs in numbers, the 'Top Ten' chose only one dance drama for each ethnic minority group and the most influential one. Secondly, the criteria lie not only in whether contents of the dance dramas are based on the historical culture and real life, but also in whether there is a systematic construction in terms of the dance drama language. Thirdly, the 'Top Ten' are in the chronological order. So they represent not only the systematic construction achievements of each ethnic minority dance drama language but also the characteristics and standards of the ethnic minority dance drama creation for each period.For the ten chosen ethnic minority dance dramas, those with rich ethnic dance language and those without are half and half. It shows that we can definitely develop the richness of dance language through creating the ethnic minority dance dramas—it is our first understanding. The second understanding is that almost all of the dance dramas are from the 'folklore'—except The Five Clouds. In addition, the Wa dance drama Monument in the Sea of Cloud and the Mongolian dance drama Eji are both excellent works reflecting the reality, yet their systematic construction of ethnic dance language are slightly inferior. The third understanding is that both the theme selection and language construction of ethnic minority dance dramas are extremely regional. However, it shall not impede the non-ethnic areas participating in the creation and performance. At the same time, we shall encourage more ambitious and excellent choreographers to join in the creating process. The ethnic minority dance drama is a very important aspect of the creation and choreography of contemporary Chinese dance dramas. Establishing this type of dance drama, first of all, means that we have had richer and more specific expressive language. Secondly, for this type of dance drama, the ethnic minority dance has transformed from the previous works represented by building situations to the current works focusing on the ontological language of the main characters of the dance drama. Thirdly, it will expand the connotation of the Chinese national ethnic dance drama. It will also facilitate the dance cultural exchange between different ethnic minority groups, which is currently in a pure style, to go deeper in terms of the ethnic history, to meet the ethnic appeal with stronger emotions, to go toward the ethnic vision with higher aspiration, and, with the diversity in unity, to help the Chinese ethnic groups achieve a colorful, harmonious, and commonly prosperous state.