民族瑰宝 舞之传承——关于“中国非物质文化遗产传统舞蹈展演”的对谈

Dance as a Means of Preserving the Treasures of National Culture An Interview Concerning the Special Performance of Traditional Dance as Intangible Cultural Heritage

2018年5月5日,作为第35届上海之春国际音乐节重要组成部分的"民族瑰宝舞之传承—中国非物质文化遗产传统舞蹈展演"活动在上海国际舞蹈中心举办,本文作者廖燕飞受《当代舞蹈艺术研究》的委托,访问了该活动的策划人—中国艺术研究院舞蹈研究所副所长、中国非物质文化遗产保护中心传统舞蹈研究室负责人江东研究员,与其探讨了该活动的缘起、内容、目的,传统舞蹈类"非遗"保护的意义、传统舞蹈保护与创造的关系,中、日、韩三国在保护方式中的异同以及传统舞蹈资源再利用等理论与实践层面的多个重要问题。

On May 5, 2018, as part of the 35 th annual Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Shanghai International Dance Center hosted a special performance of Chinese traditional dance which has been labelled as Intangible Cultural Heritage. LIAO Yan-fei, co-author of this paper, interviewed the event planner JIANG Dong, Deputy Director of the Research Institute of Dance of the Chinese National Academy of Arts and head of the traditional dance division of China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage. The interview covered several issues as follows.I. Initiation of the event The special performance was hosted by China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles, co-organized by the Research Institute of Dance of the Chinese National Academy of Arts, the traditional dance division, and Shanghai International Dance Center Theater Management Co., Ltd., and organized by Shanghai Dancers’ Association and Shanghai International Dance Center Development Foundation. The event included two parts: the special performance and the forum.The idea of organizing this event was generated first during the China Dance Summit held in Shanghai in December 2017. In a discussion between Mr. DONG Lin, Secretary-General of Shanghai Dancers’ Association, and JIANG Dong, a proposal was made to jointly hold a show of traditional dance as a cultural heritage. JIANG Dong believed that both the Research Institute of Dance of Chinese National Academy of Arts and China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage were responsible for preserving traditional dance as part of the program to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of China and should play a leading role in this effort. The proposal was strongly supported by the leaders of the Chinese Academy of Arts and the China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, such as LIAN Ji and WANG Fu-zhou, and the China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage undertook the organization of the event. Since its initiation, the event has won the support of intangible heritage safeguarding agencies and dance artists across the country. In a sense, the success of this special performance is attributed to the joint efforts of the government, society, and the safeguarding agencies.II. Programs of the performance As its name suggests, the performance consisted of two parts. The first half focused on heritage preservation and presented 9 original folk dances, including Flowerdrum-lantern of Han Nationality, Drum Yangko, Sayeryo of the Tujia ethnic group, and Sheepskin Drum Dance of the Qiang ethnic group. They had been processed for stage performance, although they were not as obviously adapted as the latter part of the show. It is because the traditional dances may look strange if they are presented in the original form on the stage without the original setting. For the purpose of safeguarding heritage, they must retain their original form, but for the sake of publicity and promotion, some changes are needed under certain circumstances. However, we should still focus on whether any adaptation to the stage setting will impact the protection of traditional dance. The second half took a different way of expression, a more artistic reproduction of the traditional dance heritage resources. This part contained 9 folk dances, including New Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon, Heartstrings, Andai the Mongolian dance, and Grandpa and I on Stilts. III. Significance of safeguarding traditional dance and the goal of the event At the national level, safeguarding traditional dance in China is an urgent imperative. For one thing, amid China’s rapid industrialization, a large part of traditional dance repertoire is being lost very fast;moreover, in President XI Jin-ping’s speech at the Literature and Arts Symposium, he called on the country to preserve traditional culture. Continuing the traditional culture will also help realize the Chinese Dream. From the aspect of academic study, intangible heritage is an essential part of the Chinese identity. The Chinese identity is rooted in the Chinese culture, and culture is made up of specific cultural elements which we need to safeguard. What we are doing today is examining our own tradition from a higher point of view. For this purpose, we must answer two questions: Where do we come from? Where are we going? At present, the westernization of arts in China is prevalent. Under this circumstance, the preservation of Chinese traditional dance will help restore the unique identity of the Chinese dance, and keep the diversity of folk dance classified as intangible heritage of China. At the community level, this event can help increase the public awareness of intangible heritage and particularly the folk dance, so that they will do their part in this process. It will also motivate folk dancers to value the part they play in safeguarding the traditional dance culture.IV. Safeguarding and developing the intangible cultural heritage The preservation and development of intangible heritage are generally considered explicitly different. In the past, we thought that intangible heritage cannot be changed and must be protected like the exhibitions in the museum. In fact, Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage(the 'Convention') makes it clear in Article II that the intangible cultural heritage can be 're-created.' It must be noted that 're-creation' refers to 'constant re-creation by communities and groups in response to their environment and their interaction with nature and their history.' 'Re-creation' is done by the intangible heritage owner or holder rather than any scholar, director, or cultural institution from a foreign culture. Therefore, a work that the choreographer creates based on the traditional dance should be defined as the reuse of intangible heritage resources and should not be put in the category of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. V. Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and stage art creation In China, the stage creation has always affected the traditional dance as intangible heritage, while in Japan and The Republic of Korea, artistic creation has little impact on what they call 'intangible cultural property.' On one hand, they are committed to retaining the original authentic traditional art, while on the other hand traditional dance originated from folk dance is processed, refined, and beautified to adapt to the performance stage, because Japan and The Republic of Korea have enacted laws to protect their 'intangible cultural property.' In The Republic of Korea, for example, anyone who makes any change or adjustment in the form, music, or costume of the intangible cultural heritage will be punished by law. Legislation has played a positive role in safeguarding traditional dance. Now, China has begun to enact similar laws for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, but the laws are not as detailed and specific as the current situation requires. This is mainly because China has to address a lot more issues than in The Republic of Korea or Japan, so the situation in China is too complicated and generalization falls short of the purpose. Therefore, we should continue raising awareness, so that the protectors and inheritors could properly and fully understand their responsibility in safeguarding the intangible cultural heritage.VI. A comparison between China, Japan and The Republic of Korea in the practices of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage China, Japan, and The Republic of Korea are major countries in safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in the world. The project was started in Japan in the 1950 s when laws were enacted to safeguard intangible cultural heritage. In the 1960 s, The Republic of Korea passed the Protection of Cultural Properties Act. Japan and The Republic of Korea have actively answered the call of the UNESCO which is now working to improve the situation around the world through the Convention with more than 170 states joining it by 2017. Because Japan and The Republic of Korea are capitalist countries, unlike China, which is a socialist country, they mainly rely on the civil society and the private sector for safeguarding their intangible cultural heritage.Now, with the approval of UNESCO, China, Japan and The Republic of Korea have established the collaborative Asia-Pacific centers for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage with clear division of duties. China sets up the training center, Japan is responsible for the research center, and The Republic of Korea runs the information center. This indicates these three countries have won recognition in their experience in safeguarding the intangible heritage in the Asian countries or even around the world. China, with its unique experience, has built up an overarching system embracing the entire social structure on the basis of the socialist system, which ensures the integrity of the operation and helps to motivate social enthusiasm.VII. Reuse of traditional dance resources The reuse of traditional dance was proposed by WANG Fu-zhou, president of the Chinese National Academy of Arts. As the former deputy director of the Department for Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, he had deep insights concerning the importance of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and the best way possible. After becoming head of China National Center for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, he has developed a lot of new ideas. For example, how we can use intangible cultural legacy resources on the basis of guaranteeing their integrity. The second half of this special performance illustrated the concept of artistic reuse, as well as the artistic processing of the original resources. This method can motivate Chinese dance creators to draw inspirations from cultural legacies, so that their works would demonstrate Chinese cultural symbols and elements and China’s cultural heritage resources can be reused. VIII. Traditional dance entering the campus Currently, traditional dance has found its way into the classroom and school curricula. This reflects the recognition of the value of traditional dance in college education. Moreover, as colleges and institutions are located in different regions, they can focus on their local traditional dance, which is also a good way for safeguarding traditional dance. The problem now is that folk dance is often adapted in order to achieve the teaching objectives so that the original form is likely to be lost. Opinions is divided concerning whether folk dance should be introduced into the classroom as they originally are or it should be broken down into various elements and each element should be taught separately. Both ways are meaningful in a certain sense: One is to let students understand and learn traditional dance, which serves to continue the tradition of folk dance, while the other uses traditional dance for the educational purpose, which is a question of reusing intangible cultural heritage resources.JIANG Dong also mentioned that it would take a lot of efforts to safeguard the heritage of traditional dance. He hoped to convey a clear message through the event that safeguarding traditional dance as an intangible cultural heritage is a long-term task, and this event, as well as other various performances, was meaningful to preserve the Chinese culture and our cultural identity. This event would also contribute to the increase in the popularity of Intangible cultural heritage and the promotion of the reuse of this legacy.