Q: Mr. Ou hello, we all know that you are China's international dance and performing arts consulting and planning authority, so you also as early as 1997 when you saw Ireland's "Dance of the River" this world-renowned opera, can you tell us about your feelings at that time on this opera?
Ou: mentioned the "Riverdance", I have a lot of feelings, every time I talk about it, it really seems to be and in the scene, the shock now let me recall still moving, I once in the United Kingdom's "Hyde Park" and Hong Kong to see the "Riverdance" twice, and this time can finally be seen in China, I really thank the organizers of the show, and I am very grateful to the organizers of the show, I am very grateful to the organizers of the show. I am really grateful to the organizer of the China Foreign Performances Company, to bring such a world-classic dance drama to China, it is really not simple, which also fulfills one of my wishes for many years, that is, I want to see it once with my compatriots, I believe that the exciting scene will make us shocked, and for this shock you are more thinking, you will be surprised at the thinking of the human ingenuity, how can you make such a beautiful scene? How can we create such a beautiful scene? So, you will be touched, touched beyond words. Really, I can't say enough about it, but you should experience it for yourself, it's a rare opportunity, (laughs) you can't miss it.
Q: Can you give us a description of "Riverdance" itself from an artistic point of view? That is, what kind of opera is "Dance of the River"? What does it tell us?
Ou: After seeing "Dance of the River", I have been collecting and paying attention to the information in this regard over the years, and this is the ninth year that "Dance of the River" has been performed, and the reason why it has been touring all over the world for such a long period of time is of course that it shows the value of its existence, especially its artistic value, and without artistic value, it is not going to be praised for a long period of time all over the world. When I give lectures around the world, I also introduce it as a successful example of dance theater, so the first thing I want to tell you is what is "Dance of the River" in the end? There's very little mention of the meaning of the name of the dance in China. What river is the "river" in "Riverdance"? It refers to Ireland's Rifi River, Rifi River is like our Yellow River, is the Irish nation's "mother river", and it is precisely this "mother river" records the history of Ireland, the "Dance of the River" is meant to tell Ireland's traditions, to tell its national history, to tell the history of the Irish nation, to tell the history of the Irish nation, to tell the history of the Irish nation, to tell the history of the Irish nation, to tell the tradition of the Irish nation, to tell the history of the Irish nation, to tell the history of the Irish nation. Tell its national history, then it uses the Irish traditional dance "tap dance" to tell the history of the development process, which has more of its national characteristics, with national traditions to speak of national history, this clever combination is the success of this dance drama is a basis for the success of this dance drama, it is with the national character of the It is a song and dance drama with national characteristics. (Laughs) People say that "only the national is the world". Therefore, it is bound to be popular all over the world.
Q: What are the characteristics of the creation of "Riverdance"? And what are the success factors?
Ou: I first saw the Dance of the River in 1997 in London, and then again in Hong Kong, I think it's really great, I'm in the Dance Academy, University of Ethnic Studies, our graduate school class when I took it as a textbook, and then I bought audio-visual materials, and so on, every year I am talking about it, so I summarized the "Dance of the River" of the characteristics and elements, the first is the Staging, because folk dance from the square to the stage, it must be refined, processed, strengthened, enlarged, we must know that the square is not a theater, the square everyone jumps, everyone will participate in the process you feel the unique kind of cohesion of the folk dance, you will feel that you are a member of it, so that the dance moves and props are very simple, do not need any processing of its infectious effect is also very large, the theater is not the same, the theater emphasizes that the dance is not the same, the theater emphasizes that the dance is not the same, the theater emphasizes that the dance is not the same. Not the same, the theater emphasizes the ornamental, people have to spend money, there is no exaggeration and amplification, there is no climax and ups and downs that can not be, so according to the conditions of the theater to be processed, to improve. The second is dramatization, even if the brilliant in the good, the climax is only a few times, how can you want to maintain a few hours of performance, so we must strengthen the dramatic, (laughs) but the dance drama itself is a kind of body language art, want to make it too clear that can not be done, but it can be borrowed to wear to reflect the needs of the plot and so on, the "Dance of the River" there are a lot of artistic means can be drawn on. The third point is modernization, because the folk dance is still mainly self-entertainment, because it is not a performance, and it is a hundred or a thousand years old, and according to today's point of view, the rhythm is slower, plus it is a nature of enjoyment, not participation, and today's people's life and work are relatively fast-paced, so it is necessary to intensify the intensity and speed to speed up (laughs), otherwise the people will fall asleep watching it. Otherwise, the people will fall asleep watching it, so "Riverdance" emphasizes the modernization and rhythm of the modern people. The fourth point is commercialization, for a dance drama it has to have commercial value, it requires to be good to listen to, to be pleasing to the eye, so that there will be word of mouth effect, there will be the value of existence, now is a commodity society, it is necessary to equate the exchange, value for money. Entertainment is to make people happy, even if they do not participate in it will still get that kind of pleasure, "Riverdance" is such, so its performances are commercial performances, it is not engaged in exchanges around the world, it is very expensive performance costs, do not haggle, but so that you have seen you will say "value". This is its commercial value. The last point is internationalization, since China's "accession to the World Trade Organization", this topic is talked about more and more, but the bottom of how to internationalize? That is to be good at publicity, Ireland, this nation is very good at publicizing their own, such as the "Riverdance" red, they are in the Eurovision once a year in the Grand Prix of the song stood out, the TV contest to compete in various countries to host the right to hold, Ireland for three consecutive years to take the right to host the right, for the Irish, such a small island, an audience of three billion viewers, is the most important thing to do. For Ireland, such a small island country, an audience of three hundred million viewers of the column, is a very good opportunity to publicize their own people, under the big blood money must be taken, only from top to bottom to promote their own people with one heart, so there will be an opportunity to go out in the case of other people do not know who you are no one will invite you, so you must publicize. The "Riverdance" is doing very well, it is not only good publicity and packaging, but also the actor's work is also very important, he has a masterpiece, can be kicked and punched 26 times in one second, which is also a successful publicity of a buy point. I think the success of "Riverdance" is inseparable from these factors.
Q: As you said, the success of "Dancing on the River" comes from the fact that it utilizes national culture to present historical traditions, so do you think that with China's rich historical and cultural background, it is possible to create such a successful opera? What are some of the success factors that we should learn from Dance of the River, in addition to the artistic appreciation it brings us?
Ou: Riverdance premiered at the Boeing Theater in Dublin in 1995 and was a huge success, winning the Grammy for Musical of the Year in 1997. Riverdance" a play by the audience around the world and the media unanimous praise, until recently, the international performances of the invitation is still increasing, applause has never stopped ...... Ireland's cultural traditions can be said to have created a miracle, to the 1994 "Riverdance" after the performance of the fever driven by this, so that the Irish dance as the subject of this dance. Ireland to this dance as the theme of the dance drama increased to more than 200, and toured around the world, eight years, alone "Riverdance" box office income of five hundred and fifty million U.S. dollars, it can be said that a dance feeds a nation, and this promotion of national culture can be said to be visible and tangible, they are the traditional culture of the nation's industrialization, and in the world to promote the tradition of this nation, it can be said that there is a fame and fortune for both. This can be said to be a successful example of win-win situation, which is worthy of our reference. Our country's folk dance material is as wide as the ocean, why can't we do the same? This is the obligation and responsibility of our dance workers, "Riverdance" dance company in four continents, 18 countries in more than 90 performance venues 2630 performances, live audience of more than 15 million, television viewers reached more than 1.2 billion. With more than 6.5 million videotapes sold worldwide and more than 2 million CDs sold, none of these figures indicate that audiences all over the world are crazy about "Dance of the River". This is also something we should think about. On how to improve the development of dance drama so as to promote national culture, and national art to the industrialization of the deep development of the "Riverdance" can be said to provide us with a feasible basis.
"Dance of the River" was originally produced by Momoa? Doherty in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, especially for the General Assembly produced a 7-minute dance drama short film, and later Bermuda with the famous composer Bill? Bermoya later co-produced the film with composer Bill Wynn and director John McGann***. Bermoya later worked with composer Bill Whinan and director John McGann*** to develop and produce the original version of the song and dance piece, Dance of the River. The show has a traditional Irish national characteristics of tap dance as the main axis, a blend of passionate and unrestrained Spanish flamenco, and draw on the essence of classical ballet and modern dance, *** with the creation of a powerful, colorful world of dance works. Let us *** with the expectation of this sweeping Europe and the United States of America's tap dance frenzy, on the stage in Beijing for the Chinese audience to bring a rare experience of the heart.
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