China News Service, Huzhou, August 24 (Shi Zinan and Wang Jiehan) For the past few days, the mellow and delicate tunes of the lake drama with a strong Jiangnan water and rural atmosphere have been continuously transmitted from the rehearsal room of the Huzhou City Cultural Center in Zhejiang Province.
This is a lake opera student who has just graduated from the training class of the lake opera committee and is rehearsing the repertoire.
Huju is the only opera in northern Zhejiang. In the early 19th century, Huzhou folk artists used local folk arts, music, folk songs and other forms to integrate Huzhou dialect and Tanhuang singing into local operas, with a cordial and soft tune, fresh and smooth tunes. The elegant and delicate performance is well-known all over the world.
Before going on stage, students carefully check makeup Photo by Wang Jiehan
In 2007, Lake Opera was included in the second batch of Zhejiang Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List, and in 2011, it was included in the third batch of National Intangible Cultural Heritage List by the State Council.
But the actual situation is that the Lake Opera, which was once loved by the people of Jiangnan, is now facing the dilemma of no one to succeed.
"In 2001, in accordance with the requirements of the central government and Zhejiang Province on the reform of the organization system of state-owned art academies, many professional theater troupes such as the Lake Opera Troupe and the Yue Opera Troupe were abolished, and the personnel were diverted in accordance with the policy." Xue Shichuan, the director of the Huzhou City Cultural Center, said, lacking With the support of professional troupes, the inheritance and development foundation of Lake Opera has gradually weakened.
The trainees are practicing the Thirty-Two Swordsmanship. Photo by Wang Jiehan
The performance of lake drama, especially the big drama of lake drama, has been silent for nearly 20 years.
In order to save and protect this ancient cultural heritage of local opera, in 2018, the cultural department of Huzhou City, in conjunction with the education department, opened a lake opera committee training class to recruit high school students to learn lake opera performance, and began to explore the protection, development and revitalization of lake opera.
This is the first time in the city that the education and training of opera in a class of disciplines.
The participation of a group of "post-00" students has also given new life to this local opera that inherits Huzhou's cultural heritage.
Two students practice Wang Jiehan in a quiet place
Three battles in summer and three nines in winter.
Singing, reading, sitting, and playing start from scratch. They practice every day, such as splitting, kicking, and tiger jumping. There are also intensive physical training, performance, and cultural courses... This group of teenagers with an average age of only 17 enters school. Just tasted the hardship of learning art.
"When I first entered the school, I often practiced and practiced so that my body was blue and purple, and the big muscles in my legs were often swollen, and the pain was so painful that I couldn't move." The student Zhang Haozhe recalled that the high-intensity basic training once caused many students to shed tears. .
There are no shortcuts to learning arts, you can only study hard and practice hard.
Every morning, the trainees are already hanging their voices and practicing morning exercises by the river. No matter the cold winter and the heat, they can always see them running round the field, jumping on the steps, and turning over.
After 3 years of professional training, each of these "post-00s" lake opera new seedlings can now complete an excerpt independently. They have already acquired their skills in performing lake opera and have performed "Selling Green Charcoal. "Cooking", "Kirin Belt·Betrayal" and other classic lake drama repertoires.
In June 2021, the Lake Opera modern drama "The Guardian of the Nation" will be on stage. This is the graduation drama for the trainees of the first Lake Opera Committee training class, and it is also the first large-scale modern drama performed after the Lake Opera has been silent for nearly 20 years.
The premiere was packed with applause.
On the same day, the "Huju Opera Communication Center" was also established at the same time. It will explore the market-oriented development path of traditional operas through the self-financing model, so that traditional operas such as lake operas will realize a virtuous circle.
"The journey of learning art has been hard, but I have gained a lot. The mastery of the skills does not take place overnight, and it takes time and time to hone. In the future, I hope that I can take the baton of the Lake Opera inheritance and go further along the footsteps of the predecessors." Wu Mengyan said.
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