On December 3, 2013, at the Tianqiao Theater in Beijing, Beijing Contemporary Ballet launched a special fifth-anniversary dance drama "The Night Banquet". This is the performance of "Hamlet" by the core figure of the dance company Wang Yuanyuan and her elite team of contemporary artists. "Explanation of the current meaning, this work has become a turning point in the artistic spirit of the dance company. Approaching this group of artists, you will find that this is a team that adheres to social conscience, pays attention to the present, and focuses on high-quality presentation of art and spiritual pursuits.
After 7 years of preparation, the dance drama version of "The Night Banquet" boldly uses the original name of Feng Xiaogang's movie. This is also because Wang Yuanyuan created the dance "Yueren Song" when she was the dance director of the movie "The Night Banquet". Dance has become one of the most important components that fits Feng Xiaogang's film aesthetics. But unfortunately, after the movie was wrapped in a commercial cloak, the dream-like surreal classical appeal was obscured and ignored. Most movie audiences who are accustomed to realistic aesthetics did not appreciate it.
If Feng Xiaogang's "The Night Banquet" is an exaggeration of power and desire, Wang Yuanyuan's "The Night Banquet" shows the difficult process of "self-redemption". What Wang Yuanyuan did was an "extension" of the tragedy of Hamlet's character. She sewed her own subjective perception into the spiritual world of the male protagonist Hamlet, making Ophelia the first heroine, and superimposing the character's psychological space and state space. Together. In addition, it is worth mentioning that although the play's sad and dreamy stage design and manic sound design are extremely unique, they do not overshadow the dance, but complement it and integrate it seamlessly.
The curtain rises, and black-clothed ghosts wander in the dark, fog-locked space like hell, hiding behind masks, making it difficult to identify their true identities. As Zhou Xun's low and melodious singing of "Yueren Song" sounds, , seems to indicate that a greater tragedy is coming. How to deal with the sacrifice of innocent people? The prince who learned the truth was plunged into great sorrow for the first time because of his unjust death. The dancers did not express fear in an exaggerated way, and the movements concentrated on the upper body were very restrained. This opening solo dance gave people a glimpse of the performance. Hamlet's dancer Wu Yan captured the character accurately.
There were bursts of thunder, and then it started to rain lightly. A dazzling narcissus-like woman slowly stepped into the prince's sight. She was Ophelia, who was positioned as the "flower spirit". In the play, she scatters flowers almost every time she appears, calling for the souls of her loved ones in a poignant and desolate way. The prince walked beside her, as if he was wandering in another space deliberately created. This is an unforgettable pas de deux that never touches each other. Later, the prince also danced in physical contact with the "Flower Spirit", and even transformed into multiple couples' dances, but they all showed his hesitant character. He was attracted by her pure beauty, but he was afraid that she was an illusion of beautiful poisonous flowers, so he let go.
Although the play intensifies the disillusionment of love, another pas de deux between the prince and the queen is still one of the core highlights of the play. In the restless metallic sound effects, the prince and his mother had a head-on confrontation. No matter how hard the prince hit his mother with his body, the mother always dodged and gave way, even if the son raised his neck... Suddenly Hamlet lost all his power, Caught in the tangle of family ties.
A stormy and manic sound rang in the ears, and the prince’s nightmare caused by the fear of revenge unfolded in front of the audience: when the puppet standing with hands spread out was allowed to be manipulated to "kill", a greater uneasiness began to emerge. The prince strikes. Suddenly, the prince's nightmare came to an abrupt end, and the clear voice sounded again. Ophelia, who was throwing flowers, came on stage. With the prince's low voice, it was time to make a choice. The sky became extremely low, and there was a beauty like disillusionment. Unable to bear the real dilemma, Hamlet did not choose revenge, but chose death in order to find relief. However, the director gave this death a new life.
The end of the dance drama is the sublimation of death. The roles of group dancers are no longer group ministers and group spirits. They can be contemporary people like you and me. The real body of the prince, who had taken off his coat, slowly stood in front of the stage. Everyone presented bouquets of flowers to this living "person", which not only represented the sacrifice for the souls of all of Hamlet's relatives, but also the modern people's reflection on the completion of self-redemption in the play. An affirmation of "Hamlet."
"Let go" is a kind of relief, and "forgiveness" is a kind of feeling.
Perceptions of works of art vary from person to person, especially successful works, which often carry information that can inspire multiple interpretations and perceptions from the audience. The ending set by Wang Yuanyuan makes the play not only represent the director's interpretation of Hamlet's spiritual world to a certain extent, but also maintains a certain sense of just the right distance between herself and the character. In this way, a dynamic multi-directional communication process is formed between the director and the characters, the characters and the actors, and the characters and the audience, which is also a major feature of the dance drama "The Night Banquet".