The flower of art blooms for a long time

The flower of art blooms for a long time

　　——Understanding artistic innovation from the ballet "Red Detachment of Women"

Scan the QR code to watch the highlights of the ballet "The Red Detachment of Women"

　　The ballet "The Red Detachment of Women" has remained popular since its premiere in 1964 and has become a legend in the history of Chinese ballet.

　　The play is based on the history of the Chinese revolution. It tells the story of Qionghua, a maid who escaped from the bully Nan Ba ​​Tianfu. With the help of Hong Changqing, the representative of the Red Army Party, and her comrades, she grew up from a poor rural girl to a staunch communist. The story of a revolutionary warrior of faith.

　　Revisiting this classic dance drama, one cannot help but admire its organic integration and high degree of unity of ideology and artistry. I think the reason why this flower of ballet art can bloom on the stage for a long time is inseparable from its unremitting pursuit and innovation in art.

　　Innovative dance forms. Judging from the overall layout of the performance, the dance drama "Red Detachment of Women" breaks out of the traditional structural framework of Western ballet and adopts a coherent performance form. The plot is compact and interlocking, highlighting the natural flow and integration of characters and plots. From a dance perspective, the play combines the art form of ballet with Chinese classical dance, folk dance and other artistic means. For classical ballet, which emphasizes pointe and leg skills, the expressive power of the actor's upper body is relatively weak. This has been greatly improved in "The Red Detachment of Detachments". In the first scene of "Qionghua Escapes", the exquisite choreography of Qionghua's pointe lunge is based on the appearance in the art of Peking Opera. This innovative arrangement vividly displays the spirit of the characters.

　　A strong sense of life is the basic element of artistic creation. This requires creators to organically integrate typical elements of real life into their works. In the two scenes of the play, "Women's Army Training" and "Military and Civilian Reunion", the female soldiers practice the gun dance, the men's dagger dance, and the bamboo hat dance all use props that fit the plot, enriching the language of classical ballet. In particular, the movements and shapes of female soldiers holding guns and aiming forward are a challenge to classical ballet pointe skills. Actors are required to have excellent pointe skills. At the same time, they must also have the arm strength and balance ability to hold guns, otherwise they will not be able to perform powerfully. Presenting a brave and strong image of female soldiers. These choreography designs are all based on real life in the army and are unique among previous Chinese and foreign ballets.

　　Innovation in musical elements. The creator used national music materials and symphonic expression techniques to shape the characters and show the theme of the dance drama. "The water of Wanquan River is clear and clear. I made bamboo hats to send to the Red Army. The army loves the people and the people come to support the army. The army and the people unite as one family." This song "The water of Wanquan River is clear and clear" has been sung by generations and has long been a household name. The overture in the play is derived from the movie episode "Lien Ge of the Detachment of Women", which has been used many times in scenes where the collective image of the Detachment of Women appears, sometimes with a band playing, sometimes with a chorus. These classic episodes selected in the play all have high artistic standards and distinctive Hainanese national characteristics.

In order to highlight the strong and full sound effect, the play uses an orchestra and a large number of percussion instruments and plucked instruments with unique Chinese characteristics. In scenes such as the appearance of Hong Changqing, the representative of the Red Army Party, the innovative use of national percussion instruments played a positive role in enhancing the atmosphere and character modeling. In particular, the musical instruments with Hainanese tones such as bamboo flutes and reeds added to the soundtrack make the performance not only reflect the dynamic rhythm characteristics of traditional ballet, but also have a strong island style. As Feng Ying, director of the National Ballet of China and performer of the third-generation "Qionghua", said: ""The Red Detachment of Women" breaks the stylization of classical ballet, both in terms of music and 'aesthetics'. Innovation. In addition to being unique in expressing national emotions, it also breaks the stylized things of classical ballet in terms of artistic presentation."

　　Innovative characterization methods. Western ballets mostly use abstract expression techniques to render characters' characteristics and do not pursue a complete presentation of the storyline. The dance drama "Red Detachment of Women" embodies the Chinese ballet's emphasis on dramatic expression techniques. While abstracting and sublimating art, it also emphasizes the dramatic conflicts between characters and the development of the storyline, making the music and dance in the drama play an important role in shaping typical characters and portrayals. Good results were obtained in terms of character. For example, in the "Dou Hao Dance" segment, in order to fully express the idea that the army loves the people and the people support the army, the composer specially processed this piece of music into a form of singing and dancing. In addition, the music theme that expresses Hong Changqing's firmness, calmness and unique profound and broad connotation; the music theme that expresses Nan Batian focuses on reflecting his insidiousness. The musical personalities of these characters intertwine and collide in the play, producing a strong dramatic effect.

　　More than half a century has passed, and when we revisit this ballet again, we will still be deeply affected by its ideological and artistic charm. It can be said that with its unique Chinese concept and expression, this work has deservedly joined the list of famous ballet dramas and has become a gorgeous artistic flower in the history of dance dramas in China and even the world.