"Image of Yunnan" is a new stage production that integrates tradition and modernity. It is a cultural feast with strong ethnic customs, and has set off a craze for "original" singing and dancing. . This folk dance drama not only embodies the traditional dances of various regions in Yunnan, but also represents the development direction of modern folk dance in my country. It allows us to see national memory from the "original" culture and enables people in minority areas to regain their cultural confidence in their own nation.

1. The creative concept of "Image of Yunnan"

01. Original Ecology

"Image of Yunnan" was created by the famous dancer Yang Liping, who went through extensive Yang Liping served as the chief choreographer and artistic director of this large-scale musical and dance drama, re-integrating and choreographing the songs and dances of Yunnan ethnic minorities after collecting styles from villages and villages. Yang Liping also starred in this large-scale dance drama. "Image of Yunnan" has been a folk dance drama from the beginning. It embodies the beauty of traditional songs and dances of various ethnic groups in Yunnan, and is also the perfect embodiment of Yang Liping's dance thoughts.

Yang Liping talks about the creation of "Image of Yunnan":

It is to excavate the music and dance that have been lost in remote areas and scattered among the people, collect and integrate it, and construct a unique version of the Yunnan ethnic minorities. of art with local flavor, and then bring the finished product to the stage. It records the oldest dance method that excites life.

"Original ecology" is one of the aesthetic propositions of the dance drama "Image of Yunnan". The villagers on the stage passionately express their love for their homeland with their bodies and singing. The power, simplicity and simplicity that comes from the plateau is like an orchid in a mountain stream, allowing people in the audience to smell the fragrance of earth, mountain air and wild fragrance.

02. The unity of nature and man

The unity of nature and man is another creative idea in "Image of Yunnan". The dance drama shows the Yunnan ethnic minority's worship of nature and love for life, and integrates this culture of "harmony between man and nature" into it.

A side of water and soil nourishes a side of life; a side of life respects a side of water and soil. If it is not your own divine ancestor, it will not protect you; if it is not your own home, it will not promote you.

This sentence is Yang Liping's narration of the creative concept of "Image of Yunnan", and also expresses the aspirations of a Bai dancer who came out of Yunnan. The concept of original ecology and the unity of nature and man is reflected in every person, thing, and corner of the dance drama.

2. Art Appreciation of "Image of Yunnan"

Preface to "Image of Yunnan": The Beginning of Chaos, Scene One: The Sun, Scene Two: The Land, Scene Three Scene: Home, Scene 4: Fire Sacrifice, Scene 5: Pilgrimage, Ending: The Spirit of the Bird, composed of seven parts.

Integration of Yunnan ethnic minorities: sun drum, elephant foot drum, mang drum, copper mang, sacred drum, copper cymbal dance, cigarette box dance, flower waist song and dance, umbrella dance, moonlight solo dance, hair swing Dance, Xinping Huayao Dai, Dage, Cow Head Dance, Mask Dance, Gourd Sheng Dance, Tattoo, Dongba Dance, Nirvana, Tibetan Dance, Mani Stone, Prayer Wheel, Peacock and other ethnic songs and dances, totem beliefs, and production The original forms such as living tools show the dance idea of ??the unity of nature and man.

The first "Sun"

showed the primitive aboriginal period when human beings had not been masked for a long time. The sound of drums marked the origin of the nation and the prelude to the entire dance.

"The sun and the moon,

pursue each other from east to west, and when the sky opens they are aligned;

men and women,

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Inseparable from birth to death,

They were connected when the land was created. ”

This scene includes and displays almost all the ethnic groups in Yunnan. Drum, for the local people, the drum is not only a musical instrument, but also a kind of totem worship, which symbolizes the origin of the nation. Along with totem worship came the legend of drums. The legends of drums in Yunnan are among the best in China. The most famous one is the legend of the Jino people:

A, the ancestor of the Jino people in the prehistoric era. Mai Yaobai built a sun drum, and Mai Hei and Mai Niu hid in the drum to escape the disaster and reproduced the descendants of the Jinuo tribe. The sun drum has since become the most sacred artifact of the Jinuo people, and the sun drum has been derived from it. The sun drum will be beaten every New Year's Eve, and this has also become the gospel of a better life for the Jinuo people.

The drum sound in "Sun" is similar to the sun drum of the Jinuo people. The drum beats run through the gestation, growth, growth and final disappearance of life, which is a reverence and expression of life.

The second performance "Land"

"Land" consists of "Moonlight" (solo dance by Yang Liping), "Yi Umbrella" (Black Yi), "Cigarette Box Dance" (Dance by Yi and Ni It is composed of the Su branch), "daughter country" (Huayao Dai people in Xinping County), "Dage" (Nanjian Yi people), and "Shiping Huayao Yi song and dance".

"Moonlight" is Yang Liping's first solo dance, using the stage art of "silhouette" to create an atmosphere with a bright moon in the sky and a hazy moonlight. The soothing music and gentle dance postures give people unlimited possibilities for reverie. It can be said to be the pinnacle of folk dance art.

The "Haicai tune" in "Huayao Yi Song and Dance" has a high-pitched and ups and downs rhythm without any instrumental accompaniment. In the middle, Yang Liping sings in a low voice in Yunnan dialect: "The sun can rest, the moon shell." Can you take a break? How can a woman take a break? If a woman takes a break, will the fire pit be extinguished? "It is a powerful respect for the origin of life, which once again highlights the theme of "land".

The third scene "Home"

This scene mainly talks about the idea of ??"all things have animism". Animism believes that everything in the world has a soul. For this reason, Yang Liping combined the "tree", "tree spirit", "Xiao Pu Shao", "creature", "lost home" and "peace" believed by Yunnan ancestors together to express the theme of "homeland", showing the ancestors of ethnic minorities. The people's awe towards the mountain gods, tree gods, village gods and stone gods.

"Home" is a group dance. The actors express their cherishment and admiration for their home by clapping quickly and hitting the ground and singing. At the same time, it also warns us of the increasingly serious environmental crisis. This shock The feeling lasted throughout the six performances.

The fourth "Fire Sacrifice"

The grass here can dance, if you are willing to crawl on the ground;

The stones here can talk, if you are willing to use The soul listens.

The mountains here are close to the sky, so the myths still live in the folk songs of the cowherds;

The water here flows with the stones,

so the gods and The fellow villagers got drunk together.

This is the narration of "Fire Sacrifice".

The "Fire Festival" consists of "Hair Swinging Dance", "Gourd Sheng Dance", "Mask Dance", "Tattoo", "Dongba Dance" (Naxi Nationality in Lijiang County), "Now Head Dance" (Wa Nationality ) and "Nirvana", it is a symbol of human beings entering civilization and a milestone in the evolution of life.

There are many fire-related festivals among ethnic minorities. The most typical ones are the "Torch Festival" fire sacrificial ceremony of the Yi people, and the "Send the Fire God" ceremony after a fire, etc., which are regarded as The foundation of human life, people have a strong admiration for it.

"Phoenix Nirvana" expresses the Yi people's worship of the fire god "Ayidizan" and their endless yearning for life.

The fifth "Pilgrimage"

"Pilgrimage" consists of snow-capped mountains, "Tibetan dance", "prayer wheels" and "Mani stones". Believers measuring the earth with their bodies, colorful prayer flags, holy Mani piles, and perfect dance postures show the viewer a picture of snow-capped mountains and the kingdom of heaven.

They walked towards the sacred mountain, towards the ideal heaven of the soul, expressing their yearning for a holy and peaceful world, and expressing people's belief in the mountain god.

Ending "The Spirit of the Bird"

"The Spirit of the Bird" uses the image of a graceful white peacock to show the elf who has just arrived in the mortal world, dancing shyly and full of joy. It is the custom of Dai family.

The beautiful wings in "The Spirit of the Bird" represent the yearning for the ideal world and the transcendence of mortal life. The dancers expressed their reverence for the "peacock" through body language. When the peacock finally left waving its colorful feathers, the peacock's unruly character was also vividly reflected, making the audience unforgettable for a long time.

"Image of Yunnan" is a condensation of original singing and dancing, and it is also an inheritance of Chinese national culture. In this dance drama, the lives of our ancestors are restored. Every detail of respect and reverence for nature in the drum dance, cigarette box dance, song and dance, hair swing dance, and seaweed tune can make us cry. This is the national culture and A collision of souls.

Yang Liping said: “I am very lucky to be born in Yunnan, a land of singing and dancing.

” There, we saw the colorful Yunnan where truth, goodness, beauty and sincerity coexist, and left a profound “image of Yunnan”.