Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace makes the traditional culture lively
In the Spring Festival of Ox Year(2021), the classical dance "(Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace)Tang Gong Ye Yan" created by Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater attracted the attention of the whole nation and even global audiences.
10 days after the launch online, the video of the dance has been played more than 2 billion times, and the topic of microblog has been read 490 million times.The artistic "miracle" created by the dance "Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace" has attracted the attention of the world.
In October this year, as one of the key plays to welcome the 20th CPC National Congress, the dance appeared on the screen in the form of a unit of the TV series "Our Times(2012-2022)". Dancers’ stories of promoting Chinese culture has once again attracted the attention of many audiences.
Over the past ten years, rooted in the profound Central Plains culture, Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater has made a brand new name-card for for the ancient capital Zhengzhou with the innovative exploration of "dance" + "Central Plains culture".
"Pay attention to the facial expression and body language, as much as possible to show the delicate and lovely Tang Dynasty girls..."If you have the chance to walk into the rehearsal hall of Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater,you will be deeply attracted by the scene of 14 young actors rehearsing the dance carefully.
photo/ Li Yan
On the stage of the 2021 Henan Spring Festival Gala, Banquet at the Palace of Tang used 5G and AR modern technology to combine virtual scenes with real stage, presenting an amazing stage effect.
Chen Lin, the choreographer of the theater, told reporters that as early as 2017, she had the idea of showing the thick culture of central China through beautiful classical dance. While looking for materials, she was attracted by a group of Painted terra-cotta figurines in Henan Museum."If they were alive, what would they tell people today?" With a spark of inspiration, Chen Lin worked hard to figure out how to tell Chinese stories vividly in dance. She has read a lot of history books and consulted museum professionals for many times to understand the historical background, people's living habits and aesthetic orientation of the Tang Dynasty, trying to restore the scene of the Tang Dynasty more truly in her performance.
After two years of creative design and a year and a half of rehearsal, "Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace" premiered at the 12th Chinese Dance "Lotus Award" Classical Dance Awards in October 2020 and was nominated for the award.
Yi Xingyan, principal dancer of Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater, who is the lead dancer of "Banquet of Tang Palace", said that she and her partners have been trying to integrate traditional Chinese cultural elements into modern expressions, and present traditional culture on the stage through continuous innovation.
Since 2014, Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater has undertaken the national cultural exchange performance for many times.Dancers successively visited Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Vietnam, South Africa, Fiji, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Italy, Russia and so on more than 40 countries and regions, including two in Thailand, New Zealand, the United States, three times to kazakhstan, was highly praised by Chinese embassies and consulates, as well as local audience.
In the future, Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater will continue to explore innovative development models of culture. Relying on the rich culture of the Yellow River and the culture of the central plains, Zhengzhou Song and Dance Theater will strive to produce more excellent local works, vividly interpret the Henan culture to the world on the broad stage, and tell the "Chinese story" better.
