Category: Culture/Art gt; gt; Dance

Problem description:

About the creation and development process of Swan Lake

Yes No interesting story

Influence on future ballet

Analysis:

Tchaikovsky, dance drama "Swan Lake"

A ballet in four acts, composed in 1876. The story is based on an ancient Russian fairy tale, written by Begichev and Geritsel, and is one of Tchaikovsky's most famous masterpieces. Due to the mediocre creation of the original choreographer and the inexperience of the band conductor, the premiere on February 20, 1877 failed. It was not until 1895 that the performance in Petersburg achieved astonishing success, and it has since become a classic of world ballet.

"Swan Lake" is still a model for dancers to follow, and it is also a model of realistic dance drama. The plot is roughly as follows: Princess Odette, who was turned into a swan by the magician Rodbert, met the prince Siegfried by the lake, confided her misfortune, and told him: Only loyal love can free her from the magician's rule. , the prince vowed to love her forever. At the ball to choose a bride for the prince, the magician turned into a warrior and deceived the prince with his daughter Odelia, who looked similar to Odette. Realizing that he had been deceived, the prince excitedly ran to the shore of the lake. With the help and encouragement of Odette and a group of swans, he defeated the magician. The swans all returned to their human form, and Odette and the prince were finally united.

The music of "Swan Lake" is like a romantic lyrical poem. The music of each scene brilliantly completes the description of the scene, the promotion of the drama's contradictions, and the character of each character. and inner carvings, deeply symphonic. These dance drama music, full of poetic and dramatic power, and highly symphonic development principles, are the result of the author's major reform of ballet music, thus becoming an epoch-making work in the history of dance drama development. Many of the pieces of music are masterpieces that will last forever, and here we can only select a few famous ones to introduce.

At the beginning of the overture of the dance drama, the oboe played a soft melody to lead to the clues of the story. This is a variation of the swan theme. It briefly outlines the moving and tragic story of the girl who was turned into a swan by magic. picture (fragment 1). The most familiar part of the whole piece is the music at the end of the first act. This scene is a grand ball celebrating the prince's coming-of-age ceremony. The music mainly consists of a variety of gorgeous, bright and passionate dance music. At the end of the first act, a group of swans appears in the night sky. This is the first time that the swan theme appears in the music. It is full of gentle beauty and sadness, accompanied by the vibrato of the harp and violin, and played successively by the oboe*** ( Fragment 2). "Hungarian Dance" is the Hungarian folk "Cardash Dance". The first half of the music is soothing and sad, like preparation before dancing (fragment 3). The second half of the music has a strong rhythm, showing the roughness of the dancers, and it is a passionate dance music (fragment 4). "Spanish Dance", the music is rich in Spanish national flavor, and the accompaniment of Spanish castanets is bright in color, which further emphasizes the national characteristics of the music. The first half of the music is passionate and lively (Fragment 5), while the second half is full of singing and melody (Fragment 6). "Neapolitan Dance" is a very famous Italian-style dance music. The whole dance music is played by trumpet. The music is lively and stable in the first half. In the second half, the rhythm becomes faster and faster, and the atmosphere becomes more and more enthusiastic. It is a dance music. A Tarantella (Fragment 7). "Dance of the Four Little Swans" is also one of the most popular dances in the dance drama. The music is lively and lively, and the rhythm is clean and neat. It depicts the scene of the little swans playing by the lake. It is simple, moving and full of pastoral poetry ( Fragment 8).

Peter Ilitch Tchai-

kovsky, 1840-1893), the greatest composer in Russian history, Russian national music and Western Europe A master of classical music. Started studying piano and composition at the age of ten.

In 1862, he entered the Petersburg Conservatory to study composition, and after graduation, he went to teach at the Moscow Conservatory. The tone of his music is based on folk songs and folk dances, so the music presents a strong flavor of life and folk characteristics. He is accustomed to using ups and downs of relative themes and using musical images to express various psychological and emotional states in life. Development and evolution process. Strong national consciousness and democratic spirit run through all his creative activities. He advocates that the beauty of music is based on real life and profound thoughts. Therefore, his works have always been famous for their beautiful melodies and easy to understand. Not lacking in profundity, his music is a true portrayal of society. Through his art treasures, it is not difficult to find that he is not only a model of the combination of realism and romanticism, but also a master who is good at depicting psychological activities through music and exploring the mysteries of life.

Many of his works are excellent world-famous songs, such as the operas "Eugene Onegin" and "The Queen of Spades", and the ballets "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker" , "Sleeping Beauty", and the symphonies "Fourth Symphony", "Fifth Symphony", "Pathétique (Sixth) Symphony", "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor", "Violin Concerto in D major" , as well as the symphonic poem "Romeo and Juliet", the concert overture "1812 Overture" and so on.

Works: Symphony No. 4 in F minor "Destiny"

Symphony No. 5 in E minor

Symphony No. 6 in B minor "Pathétique"

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor

Violin Concerto in D major

1812 Overture

Italian Caprice

Strings Serenade

Dance drama "Swan Lake"

Dance drama "The Nutcracker"

Dance drama "Sleeping Beauty"

Opera "Evgeny· Onegin"

Opera "The Queen of Spades"

"Romeo and Juliet"

Melody Suite "The Four Seasons"

Melody

Melancholic Serenade

Andante Cantabile

What is dance drama?

1. Dance dramatists use dance to tell stories.

When talking about the structural model of dance drama, we must first define what is dance drama? There are many definitions of dance drama, either complex or simple, complex or simple, usually from the perspective of "dance drama". In other words, those who define dance drama also have a standardized way of expression, that is, "dance drama is a form of drama that uses dance as the main means of expression...". For this standardized expression, I used an ellipse in the middle. Definers use the words to fill the ellipsis. First, it emphasizes the comprehensiveness of music, dance, lighting, and even singing, costumes, and sound in the means of expression. Second, it emphasizes the importance of dramatic form. Dance should shape characters, portray personalities, express emotions, advance plots, etc. I used to define dance drama from the perspective of "dramatic dance" instead of "dance drama" and believed that "dance drama is developed in the form of drama...a dance genre." It is not important to fill in the ellipsis in the middle. What is important is to confirm that dance drama is mainly a dance genre rather than a drama form. What determines the form of dance drama is not the general rules of dramatic structure but the special rules of dance narrative. Because in fact, even versatile directors such as Cao Qijing and Chen Xinyi, who have directed operas, dramas, Beijing and Kunming, and local operas, cannot effectively choreograph dance dramas; dance drama choreographers can only be dancers who are well versed in dance narrative. Although I sometimes collaborate with literary screenwriters and film and television directors. However, we have noticed that the ballet "Raise the Red Lantern" performed by the National Ballet of China is a relatively excellent dance drama, and its chief director is the famous film and television director Zhang Yimou.

Like the modern fate of many traditional things in China, our dance drama art is not following the path of "Western style with Chinese application" but "Chinese style with Western style". Please note that in the dual coordinates of Western classical ballet and traditional Chinese opera, the main thing that troubles us is not the difference between open, stretched, straight, upright and contained, curved, twisted and sinking in the form of action language, but the formalization of traditional opera. The correction of the characters and the revision of the "Pas de deux" variation of the classical ballet (i.e. the Variation part). Due to different starting points, the initial creation of Chinese contemporary dance dramas took on two obviously different forms, which some people call "opera without rap" and "ballet without variations". The representative work was performed on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (1959). "The Knife Club" and "The Fish Mermaid" came out. In terms of character relationships, "The Fish Mermaid" can almost be said to be a replica of "Swan Lake". The Fish Mermaid is a Chinese "white swan". The character relationship structured around the Fish Mermaid transforms the prince from the palace into a country prince. The hunter, "The Fish Mermaid" transformed the character identity of "Swan Lake" into the "people's nature" advocated at the time. The characters in "The Society of Little Swordsmen" clearly have traces of the opera industry; Liu Lichuan is a Wu Laosheng, Pan Qixiang is a Wusheng, Zhou Xiuying is a Wudan, and Wu Daotai is Chou; although every possible effort is made to set up a pas de deux between Zhou Xiuying and Pan Qixiang, the pas de deux In the play, it neither becomes the main narrative device, nor does the female lead Zhou Xiuying structure the relationship between the characters. Chinese dance dramas in the new era, especially since the new century, have begun to form standardized character relationships with "Chinese characteristics". Typical characters can be referred to by four symbols: A, B, C, and D: A-female in dance dramas. The chief is B's lover, C's daughter, and also the object of D's attempt to forcibly occupy; B—the male chief in the dance drama, is A's lover, and often forms a master-disciple relationship with C; C—is usually A's father, B's master is the root of the love relationship between A and B, which shows that the love between a man and a woman is forced by the orders of his parents; D-originally has nothing to do with A, B, and C, but relies on power to take A as his own. And constitute the opposing side in the dance drama conflict. Typical examples include "The Moon Reflects on Two Springs" performed by the Liaoning Ballet Company and "Love, Heaven, Hate the Sea, Old Summer Palace" performed by the Beijing Song and Dance Troupe. In these two dance dramas, A is Yue'er and Yu, B is A Bing and Shi, C is Yue'er's father and Yu's father, and D is Gu Siye and the chief eunuch. Although the stories of the two dance dramas are different, the stylized character relationships inevitably lead to a certain pattern in the dance drama structure.

5. Variations of the dance drama structure model and its simplification tendency

The dance drama structure determined by the above-mentioned character relationships is regarded by me as the basic model of Chinese dance drama structure. This basic model has seen two main variations in dance drama creation in recent years. Variation 1: Character D is cancelled; although C is still the parent of A, he has no master-disciple relationship with B and therefore becomes an opponent of the romance between A and B (replacing D in terms of destroying the romance between A and B) ; Therefore, A becomes the active party in the relationship between the two and ultimately sacrifices his life to protect B (usually he dies from C's manslaughter); the ending is usually when C accidentally kills A (who originally wanted to kill B) and has a conscience. ... Regarding the first variation of the dance drama structure model, I would like to use "Dream of Dunhuang" created by Chen Weiya and "Wild Zebra" created by Zhang Jigang to illustrate. Chen Weiya and Zhang Jigang are both the most powerful choreographers in China's current dance scene. The above two dance dramas with very different themes also have considerable influence on today's Chinese dance scene. However, judging from the relationship between the characters in the two dance dramas, their structures seem to be very similar. First of all, the main identity of the female lead A in the two dance dramas is the daughter and lover, and she first appeared on the stage as a daughter. This is Yue Ya in "Dream of Dunhuang" and the zebra daughter in "Wild Zebra". Secondly, in the two dance dramas, the parent C of female prima donna A is a powerful ruler. This determines A’s aristocratic lineage on the one hand, and determines that A’s love obstacles mainly come from C. C is the general in "Dream of Dunhuang" and the mother bear in "Wild Zebra". Third, the male lead B in the two dance dramas comes from a commoner (or a foreigner). B and A are not compatible (B is even the target of A’s clan), but B’s talent or heroism moved A. Make A follow B even if he disobeys his father's order and mother's order.

There are many similar works that use a couple of men and women throughout the work to connect the dances (such as "Long Min Water Love"). Although they call themselves "dance poems", they do not pay attention to creating images with symbolic connotations. "Poetry" is a poem that does not have "expression" but only "layout". This kind of "poetry" is actually just a beautification of the concept of "group dance". In fact, this is the case. Many dances that do not have any characters but are just connected around a certain custom or style are also gathered under the banner of "choreography". Of course, the reduction of characters means the reduction of conflicts between people, and also the reduction of the overall dramatic conflict of the dance drama; but this does not mean that the work cannot be structured as "drama" at all. "Tuliba People", which calls itself a "dance poetry drama", features tigers and phoenixes throughout the play, connecting the marriage and love customs of the Tujia people. The director describes the living conditions of people through dances that show the marriage and love customs. This This state may not necessarily appear as a life-and-death class conflict, but it can reveal people's emotional conflicts, personality conflicts, and conflicts between human development and environmental constraints. There are no works that simplify the characters without downplaying the dramatic conflicts. The dance drama "Ma Le Visits the World" may be an exception. There is only one character in the first half of the dance drama - Mom, and there are only two characters in the second half - Le (son) and Fujime. The dance drama gives the characters a never-ending action - looking for the sun. Ma searches in the barrier of the dangerous natural environment, and the unfinished action is continued by Le; Le searches in the temptation to overcome the warm social environment, making it and Tengmei's The pas de deux also changes the harmonious style to create an atmosphere of conflict. That is to say, although the simplification of the characters in the dance drama will not necessarily lead to the dilution of the conflicts in the dance drama, if we do not structure the goals of the characters' actions and the obstacles on their way, if we do not structure the conflicts in the only characters (male and female principals), it will If we maintain the harmonious style of the "couple dance", we will lose the "drama" of the dance drama. Those genres that claim to be "dance poetry" because they have lost their "drama" are a misunderstanding that we need to be wary of when creating dance dramas.

7. Transformation of Character Relationship Types and Update of Dance Drama Structure Pattern

The tendency of dance drama structure patterning caused by the typification of character relationships makes our dance drama creation face a problem. Dilemma. If we insist on structuring the character relationship of the dance drama with the prima donna as the center and insist on using the duet dance between the prima donna and the male prima donna as the main narrative device, we will inevitably fall into the previous structural model; if we want to get rid of the previous structural model to achieve To update the dance drama, we must transform the type of character relationships, and this may be at the expense of giving up the main narrative device of the dance drama. In fact, some works that are milestones of Chinese contemporary dance dramas do not all follow the standardized dance drama structure, nor do they all vary from that dance drama structural model. The "20th Century Chinese Dance Classics" selected by an organization 10 years ago (1994) included "Little Knife Club?/tdgt;