Many programs in the acrobatic art are life skills and labor techniques, martial arts skills and artistic refinement. Flying to the device" this program has been inherited in folk activities, the annual "Naadam" event on the Inner Mongolia grasslands, in horse racing, wrestling, jousting and other skills competition, there is a "flying to the device" competition, which is to throw near and far and hit the target of the degree of accuracy to assess the merits. The acrobats put the hunting skills of "Flying to and fro" to artistic processing, forming a kind of ingenious and magical art program, which is still loved by the audience in the stage performance. Due to the acrobatic art from a variety of colorful real life, "miscellaneous" has become its overall characteristics, so the "acrobatics" of the name in the long river of history has been determined.
History of the development of acrobatics
From 770 to 221 B.C. was the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period of China, at that time, many vassal states appeared on the vast land of China, like the city-states of Ancient Greece, and these vassal states paid attention to enlisting talents in the fight for hegemony and power, and these talents, called the gatekeepers, were the strategists and advisers, and the warriors with high martial arts skills. Spring and Autumn and Warring States period many acrobatic art creator is the vassal of the gatekeeper and martial arts, they are a skill, into the Secretary of State and the great, not entirely for the sake of the show, but the key time, but often with its skills to assist the master, to create some of the cause of the sensational, Zhu Shi good skills is the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period of the characteristics. The annexation of the powers is fierce, the group of competitors, competing to raise soldiers, of course, these soldiers also have the mouth style, to plan and strategize, articulate lobbyist as a characteristic, but more is in possession of strange skills and tricks or the courage of overpowering the Hercules. These formalized the art of acrobatics, providing a technical basis.
The four princes of the Warring States period and the prime minister of Qin, Lu Buwei, kept thousands of soldiers. The warriors, armored soldiers, and forceful warriors here all provided the conditions for the development of the acrobatic art. Shulianghe, the father of Confucius, was famous for his strength, and once held the jack gates of a city gate with both hands to ensure the victory of the lords in their conquest of the state of Ban ["巾" for "亻"]yang in 563 B.C. He was also the first to fight in the battle of Dihu (狄虎), the first to fight in the war. Dihu [虎加 "厂 "字头], who fought at the same time as him, and Qin Xunfu, who was not only a warrior, but also had acrobatic skills. Dihu [虎加 "厂 "字头], who covered the wheels of a large chariot with armor, danced with one hand and attacked with a halberd with the other; and Qin Xunfu, who could pedal on a cloth rope hanging down from the battlements. Qin Xianfu was able to climb up to the city on a cloth rope hanging down from the battlements. Shulianghe's weight lifting, Di Hu [虎[虎加 "厂 "字头]弥's dancing wheel, and Qin Cunxin's climbing cloth are the precursors of the Han Dynasty acrobatics "Carrying the Tripods", "Dancing Wheel", and "Edge of the Rope".
Meng Changjun, the Prince of Qi, was invited by the King of Qin to be put under house arrest, Meng wanted to escape and return, he asked someone to plead with the King's favorite concubine, who wanted Meng to send her the famous white fox fur coat. Meng had only one coat, which he had already given to the king of Qin, so he was in a difficult situation. Luckily, one of his disciples, who was good at shrinking, crawled into the palace through a dog hole and stole the coat. This doorkeeper's skill can be called later acrobatics "drill circle drill tube" of the beginning. The princess got the white fox fur and persuaded the king of Qin to release Meng Changjun, but just after Meng left, the king of Qin regretted it and sent his soldiers after him. When Lord Meng Chang led his troops to the Qin border, he opened the door only after the rooster crowed, and in the middle of the night, the rooster naturally did not crow, so the pursuers came immediately, and the situation was very critical. Luckily, there was a ventriloquist among the gatekeepers, and his several exquisite chicken cries led to the crowing of the chickens in the four corners of the country, so the gatekeepers thought that it was time to open the gate, and opened the gate to release the people, and Lord Meng Chang was able to escape from the Qin state. This incident happened in 298 BC, and was recorded in "Strategies of the Warring States". It is because of this karma, like the Peking Opera world worship Tang Minghuang as the ancestor, Chinese ventriloquists worship the ancestor is Meng Changjun.
Lie Zi - King Mu of Zhou: "When King Mu of Zhou, the state of the West Pole came to be transformed." The so-called personification, is the illusion of man, he is free to go in and out of water and fire, through the gold and stone at will, hanging in the air without falling and through the wall into the wall, are all illusion programs.
Liu Xiang's "The Legend of the Ladies" also recorded the recluse in the Warring States period: King Xuan of Qi once gossiped with Zhong Li Chun during a banquet, and Zhong Li Chun intentionally dazzled the skills of attracting the king, saying, "I often like to hide." "King Xuan of Qi said: 'Hidden, solid widow's wish. Try a line of it! Before he finished speaking, he suddenly disappeared. King Xuan was shocked ...... "This Zhong Li Chun is obviously a person who is good at the recluse of Fang Shi stream of characters. The Spring and Autumn and the Warring States States gentlemen good skills for the Qin and Han Dynasties acrobatics heyday provides a unique condition.
The Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) more than 400 years of history is the Chinese nation in the history of human civilization has made outstanding contributions to the dynasty, the fifth emperor of the Han Dynasty, Han Wu Di Liu Che is an emperor with a great talent, he is particularly fond of acrobatic art. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to boast of his country's affluence and vastness, in the spring of the third year of the Yuanfeng era (108 B.C.), summoned a number of foreign guests, set up a wine pool and a meat forest, and held a grand banquet and a reward ceremony. In the course of the banquet, an unprecedentedly grand acrobatic music and dance program was performed. In the program, there are all kinds of jiaojia opera performance, seven plates and fish and dragon Man Yan, and the lion and beast taming program. It is worth mentioning that in that event there are foreign acrobatic artists, the king of the Sabbath (ancient Persia) emissaries brought Li Xuan (i.e., today's Port of Alexandria, Egypt) of the illusionist performers, performed swallowing knives, spitting fire, butchers, cut off the horse's magic program.
These strange skills and tricks, the scene of the grand show, so that the four sides of the guests were amazed, y convinced of the vastness of the Han Empire and the rich and powerful. To achieve the Han Wu Di boasted of the empire's prosperity and affluence, to attract the countries of the Western region to be good to the Han family, *** with the strong enemy against the Xiong Nu diplomatic and political purposes.
The Han Dynasty is the formation and growth of Chinese acrobatics, the Han Dynasty angle play quickly enrich the content, increase varieties, improve skills, and finally in the Eastern Han Dynasty formed a kind of acrobatics as the center of a variety of performing arts in the Hall of the new varieties - "Hundred Plays" system. "
The Han Dynasty was a time of great change.
The outstanding achievements of acrobatics in the Han Dynasty, first of all, its various programs have become a series, with the main content of the later acrobatic system, which in the performing arts of countries around the world, I'm afraid it is unique. Han Dynasty unearthed in the portrait of the masonry on all kinds of programs have image records:
(a) force technology.
The narrow sense of the angle is to refer to the angle of force, the fight with the sumo wrestling and so on to the strength of the main program, in the Han Dynasty plays an important position. Han paintings can often be seen in the people and people, people and beasts, beasts and beasts between the corner of the image. Hundred theater performers in a category for the "elephant man", researchers believe that is a professional animal fighter. Nanyang, Henan Province, an unearthed Han tomb portrait stone, there are more than 20 "elephant fighting bulls", "elephant fighting tigers", "elephant fighting rhinoceros" and other drawings. "Carry pole" program also shows the strength of the performers, Anqiu Han Tomb, Shandong Province, a hundred plays in the "Carry pole" a person to lift the pole above the 10 performers, the power can be up to a thousand pounds.
(ii) physical skills.
Chinese acrobatics as early as in the Han Dynasty, the formation of "top work" as the center of the physical skills, top work requires a strong waist, leg work, inverted and heeling basic skills, this tradition has been so far. Han Dynasty performance of the top skills of painting masonry, Shandong Jiaxiang Wu's ancestral temple of these two is very typical.
(C) juggling skills.
The Han Dynasty "jumping pills and sword", "dance wheel" are often performed programs, Sichuan unearthed Han portrait brick "pills and sword music and dance banquets" is a very famous one.
(D) aerial programs:
Han literature and cultural relics in the image of the aerial program records, such as bumping skills, walking rope and play car, there are high-altitude performances, the edge of the pole of the skills in the Han Dynasty was very popular, there are basically two types: one is performed on the ground, one is performed in the car in front of the show in front of the "Hundreds of Plays" in the play car set up a double pole double stage, the performance of the young man in the car to perform a double pole, a double stage, the performance of the young man in the car to set up a double pole. In the "Hundred Opera Pictures", a double pole and a double stage were set up on the theater car, and the young actor who performed it was falling from the front to the small stage of the back crash by turning over the heel. Today, acrobatics still retain such skills, "heel over the car" is one.
(E) circus and animal theater.
"Circus" was first documented in the Han Dynasty, Huan Kuan in his treatise "Salt and Iron Theory - scattered insufficient theory chapter", said: "embroidered clothes play, Pu people miscellaneous women, a hundred plays, circus ...... ". The circus and the hundred plays, visible at that time the prosperity of the circus. Yinan "hundred theater map", there are three circus performances, one of which will also be decorated into a dragon horse.
The Han Dynasty circus in addition to the display of driving skills, but also the martial arts, dance and other national skills used in it, a hundred circus map circus performers, some of the halberd dance practice, some of the dance block. This is very different from the western circus. Henan Songshan one of the three que Dengfeng Shao room stone que portrait of the two circus performers, one on the horse upside down, a dance on the horse.
The performance of collective circus shown in the stone carvings of Han portraits in the Temple of Wen in Linzi, Shandong, can be mirrored with the Yinan Hundred Opera Figure Circus Car. There are two horses in the picture, the first one on a person, there is still a person behind the fly, just to pull the rider's hand, another person stood up, hand-held horse tail, after a horse pulling a car, a person in front of the car flying in the air, the car in addition to the Royal, the rest of the characters are for the performance of the action, there is a person behind the car to be on the back of the vertical. It is these techniques for the later generations of circus and flying trapeze performances provide the artistic basis.
Han portrait masonry also reflects a variety of images of animal taming programs, such as taming tigers, taming elephants, taming deer, taming snakes and so on. Zhejiang Haining East Han Tomb portraits in the "taming animals fighting snakes" and the Wu Ancestral Temple of the "water people get snake map", is clear evidence.
Shandong Jining East Han Tomb portraits of the upper part of the taming of birds, the lower part of the taming of elephants. Six people sitting on the back of the elephant, a man standing on the trunk of the elephant, which can be seen in the level of animal taming has been very high. There are also images of monkey taming, crane taming and bird taming. Han Dynasty circus and animal taming programs have reached a fairly high level.
(F) illusion.
The Han Dynasty was an era of exchange of the art of illusion between the Middle Kingdom and the Western regions and even Western countries. At that time, China's native illusion has two major categories, one is supported by the royal family and relatives of large-scale illusion show, more than a huge props and devices and many actors **** with the performance, such as the Han Emperor's corner of the General Assembly of the "fish and dragons Man Yan", is actually two connected to the performance of the large-scale illusion.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao unified the north, and Cao Cao paid special attention to the collection of talents. For the Fangshi stream of characters, he made every effort to search for their own side, fear that these people use the illusion of Kisha evil compulsion, advocating chaos or for the enemy to use. Therefore, once he heard that there is a different art that will be recruited, Lujiang's Zuo Ci, Gan Ling's Gan Shi, Yangcheng's Qie Jian and other famous fangshi were enlisted by his side, which objectively gave the illusion of the exchange of development to improve the conditions. The various performances of Zuo Ci contained in the Biography of Zuo Ci in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty indicate that the art of illusion had already been developed to a very high level at that time. The 68th episode of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Zuo Ci Throwing Cups and Playing with Cao Cao," describes it very vividly. In the 21st year of Jian'an (216 A.D.), he performed three sets of tricks. "He took a large flowerpot and put it in front of the banquet, filled it with water, and in a few moments issued a peony plant and put two flowers in it". Zuo Ci "taught to bring a fishing rod to fish in the fish pond under the hall, and in a few moments caught dozens of large perch, and put them on the hall." "Ci threw a cup in the air, turned into a white dove, flying around the temple." Drawing the crowd to look up and watch, he took the opportunity to disappear. These three sets of tricks, i.e. changing flowers, fish and birds, are also modern Chinese magic tricks.
After the Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties (400-589 AD) more than 160 years of turmoil and the integration of national cultures, to the Sui Dynasty in 589 AD, the unification of China, acrobatic art has been extremely mature, to the Tang Dynasty to become the court and folk **** Sheng art.
Acrobatic artists and music and dance artists with the court to perform, there are some acrobatic artists who have been praised for a while, for the poets and writers to sing.
The Tang Dynasty (618 to 907 AD) is a more economically developed period of feudal society in China, music and dance acrobatic art is unprecedentedly prosperous, Tang Dynasty poets and ink artists many people chanted acrobatic art. Bai Juyi had the sentence of "Dancing double swords, jumping seven pills, curling huge rope, dropping long poles" ("New Lefu - five parts of the play"), and Yuan Zhen also had the verse of "A hundred plays in front of the head even ruffled, pills and swords jumped and threw frost and snow floated". Zhang Chu Jin's "downstairs view rope skills Fu" vividly depicts the rope skills of people with superb and beautiful performance skills: "Yaiting beautiful women, and Huan Li Ren, Phi Luogu and beads and cui, catching the Qiong Feast and brocade Yin ...... across a hundred feet high hanging several zhang, under the curved like a hook, in the middle of the flat like a palm. Initially nicknamed and oblique into, even Pan Shan and straight up, ......"
Tang Dynasty acrobatics appeared many highly skilled and beautiful and moving female acrobatic artists, before the poem in the female artist was called "Yaiting beauty", indicating that she is the The female performer in the previous poem is called "Beauty of the Palace", indicating that she is a court entertainer. Feng's Records of Witnesses, written by the Tang Dynasty, also describes the court's rope skills, stilt walkers, and the superb skills of "stepping on shoulders and treading on top" and "stacking people on top of each other" to the extent of three or four weights. Many famous music and dance, such as "broken music", "Sheng Shou music", etc., are related to acrobatics.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin personally guided the ministers to rehearse the "King of Qin broken music" is a very famous music and dance in the Tang Dynasty, reputation spread far and wide overseas, one hundred and twenty people with halberds and armor, before the chariot, after the line of battle, which the martial arts and horsemanship, that is, with the acrobatics. More Youzhou female artists stone fire Hu (may be a minority in the Tang Dynasty) to "break the music" into the acrobatic art of the top of the pole of the technique, her top of the 100-foot pole, supported by five bowstrings, five girls dressed in five-color clothes, holding a sword and halberd in the gaol bowstring performance of the "break the music". They are in tune with the beat of the music on the bowstring to and fro, as swift as a swallow. This performance is a blend of "song and dance", "walking rope" and "top pole" of the skills in one furnace, it is really fancy new.
The Tang people "pole" of the art is very high, there are "climbing pole", "top pole", "car pole drama "Crawling pole", "top pole", "pole play on the car", "pole play in the palm" and other different contents. The unique record of the record of a three original female artists can head long pole carrying eighteen people and walking back and forth. It is this kind of skill, the Tang Dynasty officials and dignitaries often carry pole acrobatic performances as a precursor to the travel ceremonies. The most typical proof is the Tang Dynasty Dunhuang Mogao Caves in the mural "Mrs. Song travel map" is to "carry pole" as a guide. Travel ceremonial acrobatic music and dance performances, both to show the meaning of luxury and grandeur, but also with the people of the good, so the Tang Zhang Hu "Thousand Autumn Le" poem: "August usually calyx building, ten thousand parties with the same music is a thousand years. The city of people watching the long pole out, a trick first into Zhao to solve the sorrow."
The Chinese streamer is the Tang Dynasty nobles, the royal family traveled to the ceremonial weapon, at that time is not an acrobatic performance of the project, advocating martial arts in the Tang Dynasty, some ceremonial soldiers in the exercise of arm strength in the juggling in the streamer, and then the folk welcome the Buddha will go in the meeting, but also in the streamer to do the opening ceremonial weapon, acrobatic artists to further improve the streamer's skills, beautifying streamer cap decorations, it has become an extremely rich in the characteristics of the national culture of acrobatics, and so far in the arena! The acrobats further improved their skills to beautify the decoration of the hats, and it became an acrobatic art rich in national cultural characteristics, which is still performed on the stage.
Tang Dynasty circus and illusion are extremely developed, in addition to a variety of horse skills, there are taming the horse for the horse dance performances, Tang Xuanzong dance horse five hundred riders. Tang Dynasty illusionist theater in the folk widely circulated, Tang Jiang defense "illusionist theater Zhi" contains: "(horse nature) is on the mat to tile soil planting melon, in a moment to lead to the vine flowers, fruits to eat, the guests are said to be different from the usual melon aroma". This Mr. Ma will also purely acrobatic tricks: " and all over the body and socks on the money, the money out of an unknown number, thrown into a well, call one of a fly out."
Tang Dynasty acrobatics will be a variety of skills combined together, fully demonstrating the acrobatics extraordinary, people can not be characterized. In addition to the previously mentioned integration of "song and dance", "walking rope" and "top pole" skills in a furnace of stone fire hu on the pole "broken music", equestrian also put "punch" of superior skills. Narrow" and the integration of advanced skills: the Tang Zhao Lin's "In the words of the record" recorded "through the sword door Kabuki" one, said the sharp sword woven into a narrow doorway, the performer rode a pony from the sword between the forests through the gallop. If the skill is not fine, the mount is not well managed, touching the sword, the horse and the horse will be killed. This "through the sword door", in fact, is the Han Dynasty "punch narrow" development, which combined with horsemanship, it became a cold-weapon era, excellent and useful skills.
Tang Dynasty acrobatics, court and folk **** with the development of the folk both street art, but also theater dedication, the viewer up to thousands of people. Some performances in the square, some in the theater near the temple shed. At that time the capital of Chang'an, the large theater in the Ci'en Temple next to the small theater in the Qinglong Temple next to. Chang'an famous acrobatic artist Xie Ruhai, sword - Dan - pills - beans, batting all the arts are fine, he and his two wives and a few children's family class, each performance is a thousand people to watch.
The Song Dynasty (960--1279 AD) was an era of developed urban economy and strong civic class, and large-scale acrobatic performances organized by the royal family and the state like those of the Han/Tang Dynasty have been rare, but on the contrary, in the prosperous cities, such as Bianliang, the capital city of the Northern Song Dynasty (present-day Kaifeng City, Henan Province), and Lin'an, the capital city of the Southern Song Dynasty (present-day Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province), there were various street acrobatic performances, which were performed by the royal family. Acrobatics, dance, martial arts, rap and various physical performing arts, the same field of dedication, mutual observation, undoubtedly contributed to the formation of China's unique opera art.
The Yuan Dynasty (1206 AD - 1368 AD) is China's ethnic minority Mongols established a unified empire, it is unified China only less than a hundred years of history, but the art of China's various ethnic groups to exchange, but a strong impact. The wonders of Chinese art history - Yuan miscellaneous operas, is in the Yuan Dynasty flourished and matured. "Miscellaneous Opera" so this name, researchers believe that is because the theater artists and acrobatic artists at the same time to perform, in the theater performances absorbed or interspersed with a number of acrobatic performances of the reasons. This can also be seen in the land and water paintings of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties preserved in Baoning Temple in Youyu County, Shanxi Province. One of the "57, in the past nine streams of hundreds of the Shi art crowd", "58, all the sorcerer Goddess Scattered music actor clan cross the dead souls of the ghosts of the crowd," two, depicting acrobatics, illusions and the image of the characters of the theater, you can see that at that time, they were the same as the scene for the art of the situation. "Nine streams in the past, all the Shi art crowd" is divided into the upper and lower two layers, the upper layer of painting Shi, agriculture, industry, business, medicine, divination, astrology, etc., the lower layer of acrobatics, theater performers, especially meaningful in this painting, but also at that time for the opera, acrobatics performances, writing words for the book will be the image of the talent in the position of an important, precious.
Acrobatics, opera performers **** eleven people, there are hand tricks juggling, midget illusion, lion dance, but also Song and Yuan miscellaneous operas in the positive end and net color. Walking in front of the midget, naked and obese, head wrapped in floral red scarf, only a red cloth pants on the body to cover their shame, carrying a bottle on their shoulders, may be performing "into the bottle" a kind of skill and jujitsu acrobatics.
Another person shoulder draped Nu eyes suddenly eyes, the sea mouth closed green lion suit a collar, long hair clear, it is likely to be the Yuan dynasty high Cui Cui lion dance portrayal.
Ming (1368 - 1644 AD), Qing (1644 - 1911 AD) two generations is China's last two feudal dynasties, acrobatics and dance and other traditional performing arts rarely performed in the palace. In particular, acrobatics is regarded as an unimpressive play, the court basically no acrobatic performances recorded, only the Ming Xianzong (AD 1465 - 1488 reign), "the line of music" in the acrobatic performances of the image. Acrobats in the Qing Dynasty fell further into the rivers and lakes. But the opera has flourished, especially since 1790, Hui Ban into Beijing, Beijing opera was born, opera martial arts play on acrobatic martial arts absorption into an unprecedented flourish. Finally, the formation of martial arts theater for the recruitment of the prosperity of the scene.
The heel was originally an important acrobatic skills, in the Qing Dynasty opera, it was absorbed by the opera performance in all aspects, so the late Qing Dynasty, there is the so-called "Beijing opera in the heel, acrobatics in the top" of the proverb. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Anhui class had the reputation of "light and shrewd, able to pounce and hit", and that year, they performed all kinds of acrobatics, competing on the stage, and after nearly 50 years of melting and smelting, naturally, there is more fire. Anhui class to Beijing after each performance will be specialized in heavy fighting fighting martial arts play. From the people who saw the performance of Anhui class in Beijing at that time, they are absorbing a lot of acrobatic skills:
"Martial arts theater, to the Yu saw in the Beijing division, the person up and down the rope columns such as apes and briskets, turning the body such as the defeat of the leaf; a chest can win five people of the rack stack, a leap can be up to a few feet of the high building, dazzling God shook, a few forget for the play." (See Wang Mengsheng's Pear Garden Tales).
During the Daoguang period (1821-1851 AD), the work "Duomen Miscellaneous Rhymes", "Selling Art" - the poem: "Singing children dressed as Dan Miao Pingting, a small play from Song Zhu, the most suitable for listening to, 'Selling Art'. The poem reads: "The singing children play the dan with wonderful grace, and the small plays are mostly heard from Songzhu.
This is in the opera organically interspersed with acrobatics "play fire shooting star" narrative.
Qing Dynasty acrobats drifted around the rivers and lakes, life is miserable, but out of love for the art of their ancestors and the pursuit of life, they are in a difficult environment, to maintain and develop their own art, "stirrups" and "ancient color opera" have a new creation, "juggling altar", "juggling altar", "juggling altar", "juggling altar", "juggling altar", "juggling altar". They kept and developed their art in the difficult environment, "stirrup technique" and "ancient color play" have new creation, "play altar", "sword, Dan, pill, bean" series of illusions, have reached a very high level.
In addition to the acrobatics of the Qing Dynasty, "street stalls", wandering in towns and villages to sell their skills, some highly skilled artists, were invited to do the performance of the rich and noble families and festivals in the line of incense will be performed. In the late Qing Dynasty, Shanghai published the "point stone Zhai Pictorial" reflects the performance of these acrobatics.
After 1949, acrobatics became the messenger of cultural exchange between Chinese people and people all over the world. Premier Zhou Enlai personally asked about the formation of the National Acrobatic Troupe of China, and in October 1950, the Central Ministry of Culture hired Luo Ruiqing, Liao Chengzhi, Tian Han, Li Bozhao and other seven people to form a working group to prepare for the Acrobatic Troupe, which included generals with outstanding war achievements, senior dramatists, directors and leaders of cultural exchanges, which shows that the state attaches great importance to this matter.
At that time, a number of excellent acrobatic programs were collected from Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing and Wuhan, and well-known artists were invited to Beijing for the test. From them, a number of acrobatic programs with national characteristics were selected, and under the direct guidance of Li Bozhao, Zhou Weiqi and other new literary and artistic cadres, the first acrobatic evening party of the new China was organized after a month of intensive training.
These traditional acrobatic programs after the initial organization, in costumes and props, musical accompaniment have made the initial processing, so that a new look. Held a debriefing performance in Huairen Hall, Zhongnanhai, by Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other top leaders of China's national affirmation and encouragement, and decided on the spot that this group of artists to form a group to visit the Soviet Union and European countries. Premier Zhou Enlai named the troupe the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe, which was formally established in 1953 and renamed the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe.
The acrobatic performance of the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe
After the establishment of the Chinese Acrobatic Troupe, with the Chinese people's friendly wishes and strong friendship, in more than a year's time, has visited the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and other fourteen countries, and through the loaded with the ancient civilization of the acrobatic programs of China. Through these acrobatic programs loaded with the ancient Chinese civilization, the people of these countries feel that the Chinese people are hard-working, brave, intelligent, optimistic and civilized people, and that China is a peace-loving country that is friendly with people of all countries***.
From their first performances abroad, Chinese acrobats have become the messengers of Chinese culture and peace and friendship. For nearly half a century, Chinese acrobats have traveled all over the world, leaving their artistic splendor in more than a hundred countries on five continents. Even some countries that had not yet established diplomatic relations with China at that time welcomed the performances of Chinese acrobatic troupes and felt the friendship of the Chinese people in their artistic performances, which accelerated the process of friendly exchanges with these countries.
The artistic characteristics of Chinese acrobatics
Chinese acrobatics can be summarized as nine characteristics.
The first feature of Chinese acrobatics is that it attaches special importance to the training of waist and leg top work. Since ancient times, Chinese acrobatics has emphasized the top work. In the Han Dynasty, there are many images of taking tops and somersaults in the painted masonry and murals and terracotta figurines. Chinese acrobatic artists, even the performance of ancient juggling actors should have a solid foundation of kung fu, the so-called "cultural theater martial arts work", that is, refers to this. There is no solid kung fu, in the coat stuck on hundreds of pounds of props, but also calmly and freely, turning somersaults into water and fire is not.
The second is to seek stability in the danger, static in the movement, showing a calm, skillful, accurate skills and hard work of a thousand hammers. Such as "tightrope walking" in a variety of thrilling performances, are required to "stable"; "shaking the board", "shaking the ladder" and so on, "the stool on the stool, the person on the stool, the person on the stool, the person on the stool, the person on the stool. Stools on stools, people stacked on people, but the top of the people must be in the turbulence on the basis of seeking peace and quiet, which must have a very calm mind, superb skills and thousands of hard training combined with the line, which shows the potential energy and the balance of the harnessing of power, performance of human beings to overcome the danger of transcendent spirit.
The third is to seek the strange in the flat. The third is to seek the strange in the ordinary. With the skillful and ingenious method, from nothing to something, showing the creative power of human beings. This artistic feature in the world's most stunning "ancient color magic" in the most prominent. The biggest difference between Chinese magic and Western magic is that the magic is concerned about the use of sound and light props, the stage is brilliant, shiny, but the actor just a robe, a thin single, plain and simple, no color, but this robe but to change a thousand strange things, from the wine dishes to live fish, live birds, nothing strange. Actor a heel can offer a fiery burning copper pot, another heel and take out the huge, fish and water fish tank.
The fourth artistic feature is the light and heavy, through the spirit into the realization of the soft and hard kung fu complement each other. The most expressive of this artistic feature is the "stomping technology" program, stomping technology most of the female performers, actresses lying on the special square platform, with both feet to stomp. As for the stomping object, almost all kinds of things, from the Shaoxing wine cans, color tanks, tile bell to the table, ladder, wooden columns, boards and drums and so on, light to the silk umbrella, heavy to more than a hundred pounds of living people; stomping objects, or speedy rotation, or over the free, from the smooth porcelain color tanks, to the wooden wooden eight immortal table, can be stomped on the flying spinning like a wheel, only to see the shadow do not see the image of the object.
Fifth is the combination of superhuman strength and light dexterity heeling skills. The weight of the base of "Stacking Luohan" is amazing. In the Tang Dynasty, there is a record of one person topping eighteen people. A lacquer-painted slingshot from the Tang Dynasty, which is now in Japan and is a National Treasure, has an image of one person holding up six people on the back of the bow. In the recent "jackhammer", an old actor lifts four stone burdens and seven or eight actors with his hands and feet, weighing more than a thousand pounds, which demonstrates superhuman strength. The traditional "pull hard bow", "playing the sword" is a program of great weight.
Sixth is the use of a large number of household utensils and labor tools as props, rich in the flavor of life. Bowls, plates, altars, cups, ropes, whips, forks, poles, ladders, tables, chairs, umbrellas, hats and so on, these ordinary things, in the hands of Chinese acrobatic artists, changing all sorts of shapes, showing the close relationship between Chinese acrobatics and the labor of life, and some of the programs are the products of the combination of labor skills and folk games. Such as rope skills, whip, etc., is the herdsmen set horse, drive the car and children jumping rope art.
The seventh is the combination of ancient arts and crafts and physical skills. "Juggling altar", "turn plate" and other programs to the Chinese porcelain art and acrobatics together. The flower umbrellas and colorful sheets in "Stomping Technique" also give people the beauty of traditional art.
The eighth is that Chinese acrobatics has a great adaptability, performance form, place diversification. Plaza, theater, street, guest rooms, as many as a hundred people gathered, as small as one person on the spot on the spot. It is this wide adaptability that makes it possible to survive through the ages.
Ninth, Chinese acrobatics has a strict tradition of succession, and close relationship with sister arts. Chinese acrobatics has a strict inwardness, each skill is passed from generation to generation. At the same time, there is also regionality, such as Wuqiao County in Hebei Province in the north of China is a famous acrobatic hometown. Acrobatic artists respect their teachers and emphasize their skills, and they always try their best to save and pass on the skills passed down from their ancestors.