Workshop creators | Li Yang and Liu Xuechen: National feelings above the toes

The Central Ballet Company's "14th Ballet Creativity Workshop" will meet the audience at the Beijing Tianqiao Theater from May 5 to 7. As the "Beijing Culture and Art Fund 2023 Annual Funding Project", with the theme of "Riding the Wind", it will provide a platform for young choreographers to display and exchange their latest dance works, and realize their creative dreams and pioneering courage.

From today onwards, we will launch the "Main Creator Talk" series. Through words and pictures, we will enter the inner world of young artists and explore their creative journey... The first to meet with you is Li Yang, the general director of the workshop and the creator of the work "Song of the Wilderness", and Liu Xuechen, the creator of the work "Ten Years of the Bright Moon". They have integrated national feelings into ballet creation in different forms and themes, bringing new creativity.

"With the theme of'riding the wind ',' walking 'expresses a state and an attitude of progress; while'riding the wind' refers to the general environment given to us by the times. It is the help of the country, troupes, and seniors that has given us such an opportunity, let us take advantage of the wind!" Regarding the theme of this year's Workshop, the general director Li Yang interpreted it this way, "Zhongba's young creators are a group of lucky people who stand on the shoulders of giants. They can have such a high-standard platform and resources when they are so young and even participate in the creation for the first time. We are grateful to be able to'ride 'such'wind'! I wish every choreographer can skyrocket and make great progress!"

For Li Yang, the young director of Zhongba, this was his second time standing in the position of the general director of the workshop. "Compared to the first time when I was the general director, I wanted to realize all my longing in the workshop and share all my experience with the choreographers.

This year's Workshop, as the "Beijing Culture and Art Fund 2023 Annual Funding Project", has received more support, but also has higher requirements for works. Therefore, the main creative team has established a more complete and standardized selection process, and the selection model of the Benchmark Art Fund, from text application to interview and defense, to fragment report and work display, has to go through five rounds of layers of checks before they can enter the final stage. This long and rigorous process finally polishes out works that can represent the strength and level of young talents in Zhongba, and this process has also become their growth and training on the road of choreography.

As this year's Worshop was about to premiere, Li Yang was filled with gratitude: "Thank you to Captain Feng Ying for founding the Worshop platform, thank you to leaders at all levels for their support and care, thank you to music consultant Fanny and stage art coordinator Liu Zhao for checking, thank you to the creators for sparing no effort to create, thank you to the actors for working overtime to rehearse between busy performance tasks, and especially thank you to the stage art department and publicity department for their strong support. It is this all-out attitude that supports the Workshop to develop in a better and better direction!"

"From 2019 onwards, I will be sent by the troupe to Xinjiang every year to collect styles, take root in this land, see their rich dance culture, and hope to contribute to the troupe and Chinese ballet, and try to integrate Xinjiang dance and ballet. This idea has been brewing in my mind for five years, and now I can finally take to the stage." Li Yang described the inspiration for the work.

Faced with two completely different dance vocabulary, Li Yang did not want to simply complete the superficial grafting, but wanted to achieve deep bone marrow integration. However, for ballet performers with zero foundation in Xinjiang dance, this is by no means easy. For this reason, the troupe invited young dancers Yumiti and Gulimina to give the performers many master classes. Yumiti participated in the creation as a choreographer. He sighed: "This is the first time in my career for more than 20 years that I have truly participated in the creation of ballet works. The dance vocabulary should not lose the color of the ballet itself, but also have strong Chinese ethnic characteristics. The works include Uyghur, Tajik and other styles, which are harmonious and collisive. How to choose the combination point between the two is the key to creation. At the same time, we must integrate them into the expression we want to express It is a very difficult creative process. The professionalism of the behind-the-scenes team in front of Zhongba stage, the awe of their profession and the seriousness of their work have given me a lot of support and inspiration. I hope that in the future we can have more in-depth and long-term cooperation and discussion on the big topic of combining ballet and Xinjiang dance vocabulary. I also wish that Workshop, an open and inclusive platform, can cultivate more capable and thoughtful artists! "

Through the poetic picture and the dance vocabulary of wild temperament, the work shapes the national spirit as immortal as the Populus euphratica tree for thousands of years, and depicts the picture of people in the wilderness lighting torches to illuminate the direction of their hearts and build a better future together. For this work, Xinjiang composers Paruk *** and Maiwulan **** were specially invited to perform music creation, and more than 40 versions of the music drafts were continuously improved and overturned. The dance beauty full of the root image of Populus euphratica created by He Yuyun, a young creative talent in Zhongba, is also constantly polished. Li Yang said: "This year coincides with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. This work is also a tribute to the spirit of the Corps. It tells the cultural integration in the national family, expresses people's pursuit of self-improvement and indomitable spirit, yearning for sincere love, and searching for the meaning of life."

"This is a platform that we, as actors, cannot hope for!" Liu Xuechen said of Workshop with gratitude, "Thank you to Captain Feng Ying for establishing this platform, which provides space for us actors and choreographers with creative impulses. As a dancer and an observer of life, I am eager to express and present my understanding of dance, art and life on the stage. From the first creation of" Dream Butterfly "to today, my original intention has never changed. The work is a dream on the stage. The actors and the audience in the theater also have a dream. I think I will use my artistic life to complete this dream."

The creative inspiration of "Ten Years in the Bright Moon" comes from Su Shi's masterpiece "Jiangchengzi Yimao's Dream on the 20th Night of the First Month". However, the work is not limited to the mourning of "ten years of life and death", but uses the eyes of modern people to appreciate the time-honored emotion in Chinese poetry. In the work, the male protagonist will tell the precious deep feelings from the perspective of modern people and body language, and make this emotion return to life and find a warm destination in introspection.

"Of course, the creative process was not smooth sailing. I went through the process of'overthrowing, overthrowing, overthrowing again 'again. It honed not only a person's mind and body, but also a test of willpower." Talking about the creative process and harvest, Liu Xuechen said, "When I participated in the Workshop as an actor in 2014, I experienced the vigorous power and innovative spirit. Standing on this stage as a creator, I was more moved. Now I am involved in it again. I think more about how to establish characters, how to make the language and logic of dance better promote emotions, so that emotions can be better expressed."

The creative process also made Liu Xuechen feel the warmth of the collective again: "Thank you to Captain Feng Ying, Secretary Yang Xiong, Deputy Commander Zhu Yan, and Deputy Commander Zhang Jian for giving us the greatest support; the choreographers Fei Bo, Zhang Zhenxin, Wang Sizheng, and this time the chief editor Li Yang, from the structure, expression and technique, provided selfless help to my work. Director Fei Bo in particular, the advice on establishing characters can be said to be'one word to wake up the dream person '." Not only that, Fanny's conductor poured a lot of effort into the work, the choreography design of He Yuyun's four drafts was meticulous, as well as the support and help of the teachers in lighting, costumes, and makeup, as well as the selfless sweat, physical strength and intelligence of the actors in the face of heavy performance tasks, all of which made Liu Xuechen grateful, "This work is not my'dream ', but our'dream'!"