The snow is full of blessings at the beginning of the day, and the spring sun is shining to announce the New Year. In order to enrich the cultural life of citizens, inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, create a good artistic atmosphere for the upcoming Spring Festival, and strive to promote the creation of a "performing arts city", the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism relied on it from the beginning of January to the end of MarchThe Beijing Performing Arts Service Platform held the "New Year Opera Rhyme - Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture" excellent repertoire exhibition seasonγThe new song and dance drama "The Cat God in the Forbidden City", co-produced by the China Children's Art Theater and the Palace Museum, will be presented to the audience at the China Children's Theater from February 3 to February 25.
*: Courtesy of China Children's Art Theatre).
The song and dance drama "The Cat God in the Forbidden City" is adapted from the story of the picture book of the same name, using the story of the "cat god" as the carrier to show the Forbidden City, which represents the historical civilization and traditional culture of China. The story tells the story of a kitten named "Bao'er" in the Forbidden City, because of his deep attachment to human partners, through a strange chance, through hundreds of years to the newly built Palace Museum, became a kitten named "Little Thing". In this magnificent palace, the "little thing" not only found the home of the heart, but also became a real four-clawed guard, becoming the guardian of the Forbidden City.
See the world through the eyes of a cat
Create a masterpiece of song and dance drama for all ages
The Cat God in the Forbidden City is a timeless fairy tale about friendship and companionship, memory and history, life and eternity through the perspective of a cat. The main creative team devoted themselves wholeheartedly, went to the Forbidden City three times to collect style, and changed the draft four times. Jiao Gang, a national first-class director who directed the play, said: "In the process of collecting wind in the Forbidden City, we found a lot of different things, including the perspective of seeing things. Because cats are very small, they don't see things from the same perspective as people, so we lower our perspective and lie on the ground to see. In the eyes of a cat, everything is very high, like hanging above the sky, which is very different. So in the end, it was decided to look at everything in the Forbidden City from the perspective of a cat and promote the visual image presentation of the entire play. β
*: Courtesy of China Children's Art Theatre).
In terms of stage design, Feng Lei, the excellent stage designer of the China Children's Art Theater, designed the entire stage to see the world with the eyes of a cat, like a lens, using the oval stage to create a fantastic angle of seeing the world with a cat's eye, restoring many classic scenes of the Forbidden City, including the famous palace in the Forbidden City, mortise and tenon structures and other traditional Chinese aesthetic elements are presented in an intentional way, and finally form a unique cat's perspective, full of ingenuity.
At the beginning of its creation, the song and dance drama "Cat God in the Forbidden City" was positioned as an "all-age" drama work, which is undoubtedly a higher requirement for actors. "A good children's drama must be touched by everyone, first of all, it is to face the children, to make the children empathize, feel that it is fun to watch, and there is something to gain. At the same time, adults should also have gains, feelings and thoughts, because adults' perspectives are also different, they can see many different things from what children see, and at the same time, they must also evoke the innocence of the past. Jiao Gang said.
*: Courtesy of China Children's Art Theatre).
During the performance, the actors need to narrate and present the story from the perspective and posture of a cat, and during the performance, the audience can see each cat's own unique personality and charm, which has both the physical expression of a cat and the strong emotions of a human. Director Jiao Gang led the actors to do a lot of workshops to achieve the integration of **, drama, and dance and express them freely. "To star in a song and dance drama, you must not only sing and dance, but also shape the role, singing, dancing, and acting, which is equivalent to presenting the role in accordance with the high standards of a first-class actor, and you must create a vivid image of a cat, and you must have a more stage sense. Song Jianlin, a national second-class actor of the China Children's Art Theater and the star of "The Cat God in the Forbidden City", said. After a standardized and strict selection process, "Cat God in the Forbidden City" allows the most suitable actors to meet the most suitable roles, and the three generations of outstanding actors in Chinese children's art are fully interpreted, jointly creating a masterpiece of song and dance drama suitable for all ages.
Inclusive, diverse elements and dance styles
The song and dance drama "Cat God in the Forbidden City" specially invited Li Haiying, a well-known **person who has created well-known works such as "Song of the Seven Sons" and "Walking in All Directions", as the composer, incorporating very diverse ** elements into this work, in the play, "Beautiful Forbidden City", "Gege's Cat", "Companionship" and other nearly 20 ** tracks are catchy, and each ** is full of sincerity and abundant feelings.
Because we are playing the Forbidden City and the Forbidden City, we use a lot of traditional styles such as Beijing drums and Beijing qinshu in the repertoire, and even the ** elements of Kunqu Opera, rock and R&B. Jiao Gang said.
*: Courtesy of China Children's Art Theatre).
In terms of choreography, Liu Xiaoyi, director and choreographer of the National Theatre of China, and Zhang Zhixiong, the core artist and choreographer, use dance elements in the repertoire are also very inclusive and diverse. Jiao Gang said: "Because cats are actually very brave and good at fighting. When it's quiet, it feels like a good baby, but when it's catching mice or fighting, it's really lightning-fast. Therefore, the dance movements of the cat integrate the characteristics of folk dance and Mongolian dance, and some classical dance figures and body rhyme are also used in the middle. In addition, the choreography of the show also adds a lot of rock and jazz elements. β
"Cat God in the Forbidden City" embodies the diversity of culture, dance, and story, coupled with the diversity of expression, as well as the diversity of all ages pursued by Chinese children's art, all the diversity is integrated into the expression of the repertoire, and it is also a very good empathy and guidance for all audiences who have watched this drama.
The culture of the Forbidden City and traditional Chinese culture
A new perspective on understanding
"Cat God in the Forbidden City" looks at the world with "cat's eyes", showing the precipitation and accumulation of the Forbidden City culture and China's long history and culture. I hope that the audience will be able to open up their beautiful imagination of the Forbidden City after watching it, and start a deep reflection on history and memory, life and eternity.
*: Courtesy of China Children's Art Theatre).
Jiao Gang believes that the script of "The Cat God in the Forbidden City" has a thick literary nature, it is not only a beautiful fairy tale, but also an admiration and memory of the people represented by the people of the Forbidden City who have made countless efforts to protect and inherit Chinese culture, "One of the biggest features of this drama is that it evokes a new perspective on everyone's understanding of Chinese culture from different perspectives." Through the song and dance drama "Cat God in the Forbidden City", the audience's perspective of watching the Forbidden City has undergone new changes, so that everyone has a new perspective and understanding of the Forbidden City, the culture of the Forbidden City, and the traditional Chinese culture represented by the Forbidden City culture. At the same time, it arouses everyone to think about the relationship between people and animals, the relationship between man and nature, and the relationship between man and the world, man and culture. β
In the future, the main creative team will collect more opinions and suggestions on this play, and continue to polish it, so that "The Cat God in the Forbidden City" will become a high-quality product, a drama suitable for all ages and loved by all ages. (Wen Wang Ying).