澳门专业舞蹈教育的创建与发展

Establishment and Development of Professional Dance Education in Macao

2005年,澳门演艺学院舞蹈学校开办的"全日制舞蹈技术课程"是澳门有史以来专业艺术教育从无到有的一个里程碑。学校设定为澳门培养"知识型、创造性、新型舞蹈人才"的办学理念和培养目标,在办学模式、课程设置、教材选择等方面做了改革与创新。在专业课方面,学校要求学生除了能掌握扎实的基本功和全面的舞蹈技能外,最终具备熟练地用舞蹈来表达自己的思考的能力;在文化课方面,要求学生必须完成与澳门普通中学同等学力的初中、高中文化课程,成为德、智、体、群、美全面发展的舞蹈专才,从而走出一条适合澳门实际的专业舞蹈教育路向。

In 1998,the School of Dance of Macao Conservatory hired me and I moved from Hong Kong to Macao.Macao Conservatory was established in 1989,consisting of School of Music,School of Theatre,and School of Dance.At the early time,there were only three teachers,including me,responsible for forty to fifty students.Compared with the neighboring Hong Kong,Macao’s dance was almost a 'virgin land.'Macao was returned to Chinese sovereignty in 1999.The Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao SAR Government commissioned my husband,YING E-ding to create and choreograph dance drama Macao Bride.The success ofMacao Bride led a dance wave,and YING was therefore appointed by the Cultural Affairs Bureau as the Artistic Director of the School of Dance of Macao Conservatory.In response to the needs of the development of dance in Macao,the School held three consecutive sessions of 'Training Course for Dance Choreography' and 'Qualification Classes for Dance Teachers'(each session for three years),training the main force in dance communities and schools in Macao.The training results soon appeared in Macao Inter-School Dance Competitions.The works created by the trainees came to prominence,and more and more children were learning dance.The annual performance,titled with 'The Dance Accompanies My Growth,' has nurtured a large number of dance lovers and audiences.There emergedthe need of professional upgrading of Macao dance.After three years of preparation,the 'Full-time Dance Technique Program' was launched in 2005,a milestone marking the arts education in Macao from zero to one.Backed by the mainland and facing the world,Macao is a place where Chinese and Western cultures can blend in.We have tried to make reforms and innovations in the school management,curriculum,choice of teaching materials and so on,exploring a path of professional dance education suitable for Macao.1.School Philosophy The educational philosophy is the soul of a school.We set the philosophy and goal of running the school as 'cultivating knowledgeable,creative,and new dance talents.' In addition to mastering solid basic dance techniques and comprehensive dance skills,each student is required to know their body with confidence,to develop their physical potential voluntarily,to elevate their body movements into an artistic language,and ultimately to be skilled in using dance to express their thoughts.With these qualities,the dance talents are better suited to the current stage and future development of the dance in Macao comparing with those top-performing talents.2.Curriculum In terms of curriculum for professional dancers,the courses include ballet,western dance,Body Rhyme in Chinese dance,folk dance,modern dance,and repertoire rehearsal.These courses are compulsory to all students during their six-year program,no matter one is majored in ballet or Chinese dance.Ballet training is the main course for each day.Body Rhyme in Chinese dance,folk dance,and western dance require the teachers to focus on making the students comprehend the core elements of each dance style and to increase the amount of training in routines.The curriculum aims to train students’ ability to observe and imitate,with the hope that the students can experience different body postures,moving trajectories,and breath and power initiation,which would trigger different temperamental,spiritual,and emotional responses within the body.The imitation is not simple,mechanical,or external.Through contrast and comparison,it will guide the students to experience and understand the path of movement language from the outside to the inside,and then from the inside to the outside,from the origin to the projection.From thesecond year,the students start to receive modern dance training.It will break the norms of all the dance styles,deconstructing and reconstructing the inherent mode of body movement and leading students directly into the training and thinking of physical constitution and effort.At the same time,the curriculum takes into account the convergence of courses with the dance majors of the higher arts institutions in the mainland,Hong Kong,Taiwan,and overseas.The curriculum and training do not design one model limited to one dance style and mold all the students.Rather,they offer diverse possibilities,giving the students the right to discover their potentials and choose their interests.3.A Combination of Training in Classroom and Practice on Stage Combining training in classroom with practice on stage is an important way for students to accumulate stage experience and improve art literacy,helping them grow and mature.The repertoire classes mostly rehearse the original works choreographed by faculty under the direction of the artistic director.The rehearsal of the original repertoire does not expect the students to parrot the works but hopes that the students could actively involve in the whole process from the original to the final drafts with the creators.They could not only learn the knowledge pertain to choreography but also broaden horizon in dance.4.Balanced Development of Cultural Literacy Courses and Professional Dance Courses Dance education is a specialized arts education.The idea of 'technique supremacy' has been dominant in dance education.The emphasis on dance courses over cultural literacy courses has resulted in a disproportionate ratio of the two types of courses.The lack of cultural knowledge and disadvantage in humanistic literacy will have impact on not only refining the students’ personality but also reemployment.For dance talents,it will surely lead to the declination of the overall cultural literacy.Dancers have been stereotyped as being 'all brawn but no brains,' which can be seen as the consequence of the preference of professional dance courses over cultural literacy courses.Eventually,it will affect the level and height of the development of dance art.In view of this,the school has distributed equal class hours to the two types of courses,each accounting for 50%.The cultural literacy courses include Chinese,English,math,geography,history,computer,music,civic education,general science,and others.Students must complete the academic courses equivalent to those of normal middle and high schools in Macao,ensuring every student to receive a complete basic education and training them to become an all-around — moral,intellectual,physical,social,and aesthetic — dance professionals.In 2010,the first group students finished the 'Fulltime Dance Technique Program.' The first group of secondary school students in Macao who had received systematic professional dance education was about to leave the school.Was what the school had designed for them in the past six years all reasonable or effective? It would be tested by the college entrance examination.Some of them passed the National Higher Education Entrance Examination in mainland and were admitted to ballet,Chinese dance,and modern dance majors at Beijing Dance Academy.Some were enrolled in arts schools in Hong Kong,Taiwan,and even Austria.And some of them chose not to dance.They studied at University of Macao,Macao University of Science and Technology,Macao Polytechnic Institute,and InstituteFor Tourism Studies.The college-acceptance rate was one hundred percent.Today,those students had already graduated from universities.Some of them joined the professional dance companies in Beijing;some were actively involved in cultural and artistic events in Hong Kong,Macao,and Taiwan as independent producers;and some returned to Macao,engaging in dance education,choreography,and art administration.Group after group,the highly educated professional dance talents returned,bringing back solid and comprehensive dance knowledge,broad vision of dance,and related working ability in dance practice.All of these will completely change years’ status that lacks professional dance talents in Macao,giving new impetus to the long-term development of dance in Macao.We are full of expectation,full of confidence.