Every year at the Spring Festival Gala, acrobatic shows play the important role of "high precision", leaving a deep memory on the audience. In order to show the wonderful moment of the fish jumping over the dragon gate, 23 young acrobats of Henan Acrobatic Group made a continuous throwing, flipping 1080 ° on the wave bridge at a height of nearly 20 meters and spanning more than 10 meters.
On Chinese New Year's Eve, the acrobatic show "Leaping Dragon Gate" jointly presented by Henan Acrobatic Group, Chongqing Acrobatic Art Troupe and National Trampoline Team brought a shocking visual feast to the audience.
For the first time in more than 40 years, the Spring Festival Gala crew installed a trapeze device in the sky in Hall 1, and the fusion of props and skills and creativity perfectly interpreted the legendary Fish Leaping Dragon Gate.
Bi Bo, head of the technical group of the main station's "2024 Spring Festival Gala": After many rounds of certification and installation, the acrobatic teachers in Henan have traveled back and forth between Beijing and Puyang to continuously develop this prop. It wasn't until the beginning of January this year that this prop was finally successfully developed, which was really not easy.
As early as 2022, the Langqiao Flying Man part undertaken by Henan Acrobatic Group won the "Golden Chrysanthemum Award", the highest honor in Chinese acrobatics, and in order to adapt to the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, Cheng Xiangqi, a technical engineer, made many fine improvements and adjustments to the props.
At the beginning of December last year, Henan Acrobatic Group received an invitation from the Spring Festival Gala crew, and the actors were not only excited, but also faced a huge challenge - the conditions of the Spring Festival Gala stage were very different from the usual training venues, the size of the props needed to be greatly changed, and the actors also needed to adapt again. In order to ensure that the actors can accurately master the power technique, the coach rushed to make a simple device overnight.
The 82-centimeter beam is much narrower than the one meter three in the usual training, and for Gu Yarou, a trapeze artist who made her debut at the Spring Festival Gala, this is not only a technical challenge, but also a great test of her psychological quality.
The shoulder-wide beam caused a lot of psychological pressure on Yarou, and although Yarou could successfully complete the leap with unremitting efforts, the follow-up movements were often poorly connected due to excessive psychological pressure.
With the encouragement of her sister and roommates, Gu Yarou unloaded the burden in her heart, and her success rate became higher and higher.
Due to space constraints, the trapeze artists could only train in Puyang, Henan Province, while the actors of Langqiao and Trampoline came to Beijing early. The wave bridge is like two swings swinging largely, and the actor needs to realize the personnel transformation in the way of throwing and turning between the two wave bridges.
This year's 14-year-old Xu Duoduo is participating in the Spring Festival Gala for the first time, she needs to make difficult movements such as moving and flipping on the Shuanglang Bridge, and backflipping for three weeks is a big challenge for her, and every rehearsal is a double test of physical strength and will.
Yang Gaofei, head coach of Shuanglangqiao of Henan Acrobatic Group: There is no other way, there is no shortcut to this thing, such as the action of flying just now, such a dangerous action, there are no hundreds or thousands of (times of training), the muscles and brain cannot form memory.
While showcasing difficult skills, this year's acrobatic show "Jumping the Dragon Gate" also highlights the storytelling and tells the difficult journey of the carp jumping over the dragon gate. This group of young performers from the Chongqing Acrobatic Art Troupe transformed into a group of lively and cute little carp on the stage, swimming in the river.
Don't look at their young age, they are not ambiguous at all! Three weeks of somersaults and backflips, proficient in everything. Although the skills have been practiced, can the children perform the role well?
Acrobatic "Leaping Dragon Gate" director Pei Yun: This attempt is to let the audience, and even children, understand the show.
From the trapeze artists who need to re-adapt to the new props, to the actors who show throwing and flipping on the wave bridge, to the little carp that is indispensable in the narrative, after each link has been mastered, it is necessary to rearrange with others and re-polish the details.
The first combined rehearsal of Henan Acrobatic Group, Chongqing Acrobatic Art Troupe and National Trampoline Team is not only a collision of skills, but also a test of tacit understanding between teams.
The Spring Festival Gala is also a rare growth for these young actors and young people. They trust their teammates, revere the stage, never give up, leap towards the dragon gate in their hearts like carp, and write the chapter of youth with perseverance and sweat.
Bi Bo, head of the technical group of the "2024 Spring Festival Gala" of the main station: In this process, can we be like the 72 carps, always grasp ourselves, keep running towards the dragon gate in our hearts, and always strive to unite and cooperate to jump over that dragon gate? In fact, everyone has a dragon gate in their hearts, it depends on whether you can jump over it, whether you have that breath in your heart.
*: CCTV news client.
Editor: Mo Fan.
Process Editor: Guo Dan.