Thanks for the invitation
Chen Ailian was born in Shanghai in 1939, and is originally from Panyu, Guangdong. She was a dance performer, a national-level actress, a member of the 6th to 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and an adviser to the Chinese Dancers' Association.Chen Ailian passed away in the early hours of November 21, 2020 due to illness.
In 1952, the Central Academy of Drama affiliated with the dance troupe students class enrollment in Shanghai, Chen Ailian was selected, and from then on embarked on a lifetime of dance.
In 1954, Chen Ailian was admitted to Beijing Dance School, the first dance school in new China, and graduated with full honors in 1959. "At that time the school was still a 5-point system, I got 5- have to think about it, if it was 4+ I must have cried my eyes out." Irene Chen said with a smile. The life of an orphan and the change of environment, let Chen Ailian understand, in life and career they must be strong - do this business, we must find a way to drill into it.
When Chen Ailian was 20 years old, she starred in China's first ballet and Chinese dance combined with the dance drama "Fish Beauty" and became one of the youngest dancers in China at that time. 23 years old, in the year of the 8th World Youth Gala Dance Competition, Chen Ailian's performances of the "Moonlit Night on the Spring River", "Snake Dance", "Bow Dance", "Grass Rasper Dance" won the solo, pas de deux, the lead and the group dance gold medal, showing the world that Chinese dance has a thousand colors. This demonstrated to the world the variety of Chinese dances. After graduation, Chen Ailian worked successively at the Beijing Dance School and the China Opera and Dance Theater. In 1979, she starred in the dance drama Princess Wencheng and appeared on stage at the age of 42 in the guise of Sister Lin, and in 1989, she founded China's first art troupe named after an individual - Chen Ailian Art Troupe, and in 1995, she set up the Beijing Ailian Dance School.
"Dream of Red Mansions" advances the art of Chinese fiction to a realm where it has never been seen before. "Full of absurd words, a handful of tears of bitterness; all cloud the author obsessed, who understands the flavor", from 1997 Chen Ailian personal investment in the dance drama "Dream of Red Mansions" began to rehearsal, she has always been in their own way to solve the flavor, every rehearsal she has to reread once again in the book about Bao Dai Hairpin's love story.
After 2000, Chen Ailian found that, with the fast pace of people's lives, the original "Daiyu burying flowers" scene does not need to use the tip of the toes, the action range is small, long, gradually difficult to seize the audience's attention, what can be done to better bring the audience into the Daiyu feelings of flowers and hurt their own emotions? Chen Ailian added a silk dance to the scene.
"I thought about this scene for a long time, until I saw a painting at the exhibition, in which the dancers were dancing in the peach tree forest with double silks, and I was suddenly inspired, which is not the "funeral lyrics" in the 'flowers fly flowers Xie flowers all over the sky' it!" On the stage, Chen Ailian danced the long silk, silk flowers leaping around her body, expressing the disappointment and unwillingness in Daiyu's heart to the fullest.
"The most important talent of a dancer is not the image, the proportion of the body, the soft openness of these, but the inner sense and love of dance." Chen Ailian has always believed that it is only with the ability to understand that one can find a connection with the character, and it is only because of love that one can endure the pain. Both of these are gifts given to Chen Ailian over the years, and will only become more and more profound and moving with time. Therefore, when Chen Ailian is faced with the challenge of "playing Lin Daiyu even though she is over 100 years old", she can always easily touch the 14-year-old girl through time on stage.
In December 2019, in a dance TV competition program, as a supporting guest, 80-year-old Chen Ailian once again stunned the audience, her full emotional expression dragged the audience into that night of thunderstorms, "the myth of agelessness" has become a hot topic in people's mouths, the original dance is not a "youthful meal". The company's newest product is a "youthful meal".
From 1957, has performed "Moonlit Night on the Spring River", "Snake Dance", "Light Dance", "Beat Drum", "Fish Dance", "Traffic Agent Behind the Enemy Lines", "Water", "Sword Dance", "Neon Dress Dance", "Swan's Death", "Vagabond Song", "Slave's Song", "Bow Dance" and a lot of solo and duo, of which "Moonlit Night on the Spring River", "Snake Dance", "Neon Dress Dance" is famous for its dance scene, and it has been performed time and time again.
The dance dramas in which he starred include Zhang Yu and Qiong Lian, Fish Beauty, Red Flag, The White-haired Girl, The Dagger Club, Princess Wencheng, Dream of the Red Chamber, Farewell My Concubine, Death of a Concubine, The Jade Bangle, Artemisia and The Peony Pavilion, and so on.