Wed Jul 31 10:11:56 CST 2024
The international Liao Pa original ballet "Qixi Festival" is in intense rehearsals and will premiere at the Liaoning Grand Theater on August 10. Photos provided by interviewees
It was two volts when he walked into the rehearsal venue of the Liaoning Ballet, and a heat wave hit his face. Under the heat, all the ballet dancers sweated and rehearsed quickly. Refining every movement and every expression, the French choreographer Maarten Shakes stood by, communicating with the dancers from time to time to improve the details.
Liaoning Ballet performers are busy rehearsing the large-scale original ballet "Qixi Festival".
Qixi Festival this evening, enjoy a high standard, with the story of the Cowherd Weaver Girl created by the ballet, what kind of experience?
"Over the years, Liaoba has been committed to cultural exchanges between the East and the West. We want to use ballet as an art form to tell Chinese stories and Liaoning stories well. This is the original intention of the original ballet'Qixi Festival '," said Qu Zijiao, the artistic director and head of Liaoning Ballet.
How can we use ballet as an art form to better tell Chinese stories? Liauba invited French screenwriters to work with Chinese screenwriters to recreate the well-known folk tale of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. At the same time, French choreographers and French costumes were invited to refine every aspect. "For example, when we created the costumes of the actors, we deliberately designed the collars and cuffs with Chinese elements, which is convenient for the actors to do actions on stage and also highlights Chinese culture," Qu Zijiao said.
Qu Zijiao admitted that since the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl is well known to everyone, it is indeed a great challenge to express it in the art form of ballet. To this end, Liao Ballet has refined every detail in artistic creation, achieving "good integration and new expression", and telling traditional Chinese folk stories in a brand-new stage form.
The ballet "Qixi Festival" has created many "firsts" in the more than 40 years since the establishment of the Liao Pa Troupe - for the first time, French artists were invited to serve as screenwriters and choreographers; for the first time, foreign artists were invited to participate in the creation of traditional Chinese dance dramas; for the first time, the works of the world's three famous composers were re-integrated and created, and the Liaoning Symphony Orchestra was invited to perform live.
The beautiful stage set, which is closely integrated with digitalization, integrates the artistic expression of Western art level, and the perfect connection between young actors and old actors... These will all be presented in "Qixi Festival"
French director Maarten Shakes said that although "Qixi Festival" tells a Chinese love story, emotions have no borders, and love base colors are romantic and beautiful. Therefore, as a Frenchman, his emotional grasp of Chinese love stories is not unfamiliar. On the contrary, he uses French romance to better interpret Chinese love, which will definitely be refreshing.
Li Qianhui, who plays the Weaver Girl in Qixi Festival, is a veteran ballet dancer who has been dancing for 10 years. The trained actress said she had put a lot of effort into performing the original dance drama "Qixi Festival" to its fullest. "A lot of the movements in this show are challenging, and we have to balance it without losing our center of gravity, and it is not only difficult to express the emotions of the characters in the story through actions, expressions and so on. But it is a beautiful challenge to interpret the romance of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl in ballet," Li Qianhui said.
Li Qianhui said that the scene of the Weaver Girl and other fairies bathing in the lake requires the actors to not be overly ostentatious in their dance movements, but also to show the cheerful and joyful mood of the Weaver Girl, while conveying the inner emotions of the Chinese people. This is indeed not easy for ballet dancers. In order to better understand the emotions of the characters, in addition to learning from her colleagues, Li Qianhui also read a lot of books on traditional Chinese culture to enrich her knowledge reserve.
"I am confident that I will bring a wonderful performance to the audience," said Ms. Li, who was honored to participate in the performance of such a Chinese-flavored ballet in a prestigious professional ballet company in China and the world, and to perform it on the day of the Qixi Festival.
It is reported that "Qixi Festival" will premiere at the Liaoning Grand Theater from August 10 to 13, after which it will tour around the world.