In the melodious music of "The Golden Bridge on the River of Sorrows", Sui Wenjing and Han Cong defeated three Russian pairs with high technical difficulty and perfect artistic expression, and won the Beijing Winter Olympics figure skating pair skating championship.
After the Winter Olympics, many people who came to congratulate said to Sui Wenjing, "I cried watching your show."
"To be able to move everyone through the storytelling of figure skating is the form of art." Recently, Sui Wenjing said at the "Symposium on Promoting the Spirit of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Integrating Art and Sports for the Development of Dance and Sports in the New Era".
This program tells the story of her and Han Cong's mutual support during injury, hoping to let more people gain strength and support at the moment of watching.
Sui Wenjing has studied dance, "I hope to realize the awakening of art and infect the world through my body (language)," she said.
"The artistic expression bursting out of Sui Wenjing and Han Cong's bodies has reached a very comfortable state." Duan Fei, a teacher at the China Academy of Arts who once guided the dance training of the "Onion Bucket Group", believes that my country's competitive sports and artistic expression Fusion has achieved initial results at the Winter Olympics.
"Have the big picture in mind, be confident and open, face difficulties, pursue excellence, and create a better future." The spirit of Austria makes a profound exposition.
Recently, the "Symposium on "Promoting the Spirit of Beijing Winter Olympics and Integrating Arts and Sports to Develop New Era Dance and Sports Development" was held at the Home of Artists of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.
Athletes, coaches, referees from the China Figure Skating Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Figure Skating Association"), and experts and artists from the China Dancers Association (hereinafter referred to as the "China Dance Association"), around the "Dance perspective" In-depth discussions were carried out on topics such as the rise of sports arts" and "the path and future of the integration of arts and sports".
Collaborative linkage, breakthrough innovation is an indispensable part of the development of various industries, and it is also a portrayal of the spirit of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Luo Bin, Secretary of the Party Group of the China Dance Association, pointed out that how to better practice and implement the spirit of the Beijing Winter Olympics in future cooperation, and set off again and work together towards the future is the common goal of the figure skating and dance circles.
Dance art and figure skating, explore more possibilities in the fusion
The artistic expression of Chinese figure skating is not strong enough, and it was once evaluated as the Achilles' heel of the Chinese figure skating team.
In the early development stage of Chinese figure skating, due to the characteristics of competitive sports, athletes paid more attention to the score points of technical movements, and the artistry did not receive much attention. Even in the background music, there was a simple "fast rhythm + slow rhythm". "Break Stitching" mode.
"I once cut the theme song of "Astro Boy" and a pop music together, without paying attention to the story behind it." Guan Jinlin, the coach of the national figure skating training team and the men's single skating champion of the 2007 National Figure Skating Championship, recalled , The arrangement of early figure skating programs is technical movements plus simple skating, and then the music is filled in.
The so-called artistic expression at that time was nothing more than raising your head, raising your legs, or even drawing a circle with your hands, "that's all."
In June 2018, the International Skating Federation issued new rules for figure skating, which increased the content points of programs in figure skating competitions, reduced technical points, reduced jump difficulty and basic jump points, and paid more attention to program completion and artistic expression.
Guan Jinlin pointed out at the meeting that while increasing the technical difficulty of skating, connection, footwork, etc., figure skating has higher requirements for athletes' artistic performance and more pursuit of dance.
In order to better cultivate the artistic expression of athletes, the Chinese Figure Skating Association and the Chinese Dance Association formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement in 2019. The dancers provide dance skills training for figure skating athletes. In the integration of dance art and figure skating. to explore more possibilities.
According to Peng Cheng, a national figure skating team player, with the advancement of the new rules of the International Skating Federation in recent years, athletes not only pay attention to technical ability, but also pay more attention to the completion of details in training.
In the cooperation between the China Figure Skating Association and the China Dance Association, Peng Cheng came into contact with various types of dance and more diverse program styles. Through the guidance of professional teachers from the Dance Association, she has a broader perspective on art.
Peng Cheng felt that at first, his understanding of dance was a little superficial, thinking that "it's just a movement".
After training with the professional teachers of the dance association, she said with emotion that the dancers are "beautiful to the point of hair".
They can show the beauty of "360 degrees without dead ends" through the subtle movements of fingertips and toes, everything that can be seen and touched, and even invisible things that cannot be seen or touched.
And this kind of artistic beauty often radiates from the depths of the soul, "starting from the bottom of the heart, through the transmission and transmission of the heart, and reflected in the body movements, such a performance has a soul."
"After reaching a certain level, figure skating no longer only pursues physical movements. Artistic expression is as important as inner expression. What dance teachers teach us is not only dance movements, but also how to interpret this story with emotions. plot and content."
In the figure skating pair skating free skating competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Peng Cheng and Jin Yang's "Night Banquet" scored a high score of 138.74, creating their best result of the season.
"This program has won the common recognition of international judges." Huang Feng, competition consultant of the China Figure Skating Association, believes that the cooperation between the China Figure Skating Association and the China Dance Association has given athletes and choreographers more inspiration to compose the entire program.
"The choreography is very creative, and the performance of the athletes is also very delicate."
As a member of the faculty members selected by the Chinese Dance Association to guide the professional dance training of the athletes of the national figure skating training team, Fei Bo, the choreographer of the National Ballet of China, participated in the choreography of Peng Cheng and Jin Yang's "Night Banquet" program.
Fei Bo told Peng Cheng that the show should show the inner drama at the beginning of the show, "You are not only a woman who yearns for love, but also a woman with power. This kind of complexity and stalemate has to be played out."
Peng Cheng said: "Director Fei's control over the details makes us more fond of, more interested in and more enjoyable about this show. This is the closest combination of dance and sports."
In Guan Jinlin's view, dance teachers can improve athletes at the performance level "much faster and better than coaches. A certain performance posture and a certain emotion will give athletes a great reminder, so that they can burst out of their hearts. Strength and ideas, to perform this show well."
Peng Cheng said that his biggest growth in the "integration of arts and sports" training is to enjoy the performance itself more.
"I used to just do some movements to complete a program, but now I really understand that I have to enjoy the moment, every time I raise my legs, every time I reach out, every time I look into the distance."
When dance performance is limited by the ice rink
"This movement is very awkward, and I can't find a particularly comfortable point." The fusion process of dance art and figure skating is not a smooth road. There are differences and failures.
When preparing for the Beijing Winter Olympics, Han Cong once felt that it was "a little difficult" to perfectly integrate dance movements into figure skating.
Under the choreography and guidance of the dance teacher, Han Cong tried to incorporate some dance gestures into the figure skating program, but the result was not very good.
"I don't know how to dance flamenco, I just try to be as good as I can. I do a lot of flamenco on land, but it doesn't work when I'm on ice, because the feeling underfoot is the same as on land. It's different." Han Cong said.
I want to make dance "similar", but I am limited by the ice rink and skates.
In Han Cong's view, this is a contradiction in the combination of figure skating and dance.
"The blade of the ice blade is only about 4 mm wide, and it is very narrow and narrow. Athletes have to perform jumps, rotations, lifts, footwork, and even dance postures under such a narrow support. Athletes are required to have a good foundation of dynamic balance. " said Chen Dan, an ISU-level referee.
In dance, dynamic balance refers to the balance on the center of gravity of each step in the movement process. Dancers need to find and control their center of gravity in each step.
Influenced by the ice surface and skates, figure skating is unique in dynamic balance and requires higher body control. It requires athletes to continuously train through the training of physical sensation and spatial sense.
"Dancers feel unfamiliar with the ice surface, just like asking a figure skater to take off their skates on the stage, they will feel unfamiliar." Li Xiang, a young dancer, believes that in the process of integrating the two, the dancers' ideas will change. There are many, but it is often difficult to achieve on the ice.
Su Peng, an associate professor of the Dance Department of the School of Art and Media of Beijing Normal University, was also selected by the Chinese Dance Association to instruct figure skating athletes in dance training.
Su Peng prepared a lot of Chinese classical dance action material and tried to integrate classical dance into figure skating with two athletes, but the result was not ideal.
"The movement characteristics of Chinese classical dance are relatively strong, which means that it is technical." Su Peng said, "Figure skating is also very technical. The collision of the two techniques will inevitably lead to loss, and it is difficult for athletes to adapt."
Fei Bo said that there are both similarities and differences between figure skating and dance. Many performances feel completely different on land and on ice, and unfamiliarity with the rules of the competition and the essentials of ice action will also become a second factor. barriers to integration.
To improve the artistic expression of figure skating, in addition to showing the "shape" of dance, it is also necessary to convey the "god" of art.
"Some young athletes and the opposite sex feel embarrassed holding hands, let alone 'inner drama'." Han Cong found that it is not easy to achieve "spiritual appearance" in dance movements when skating.
"You give him a set of moves from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". He just has a set of postures in his hands, but he doesn't have (play) in his heart, so he can't convey this look."
In Han Cong's view, athletes should learn to liberate their nature like actors, improve their artistic literacy in systematic teaching, and conquer judges and audiences with all-round performances.
How to further promote "art-body fusion" in the collision?
Huang Feng, competition consultant of the China Figure Skating Association, gave practical advice.
First of all, figure skating athletes lack professional dance training, so they can develop special dance courses suitable for figure skating practitioners to help athletes improve their dance appreciation, creation and expression skills.
Secondly, it is necessary to develop training methods and methods suitable for the content of Chinese athletes' programs, and explore the physical and emotional expression potential of athletes of different levels.
In addition, the pioneering forms of cross-border cooperation are also worth learning from.
In the 1980s, two Winter Olympic champions in single skating performed together in the movie "Carmen" on ice.
More than 30 years later, this form is still uncommon in China.
"The ice movement may be restricted by many rules in the competition. If you try it in the form of dance drama first, it will help to combine dance and figure skating better." Huang Feng said.
In Guan Jinlin's view, the fusion of arts and sports should not simply give dance lessons to athletes, but should fully incorporate dance into the entire figure skating training and turn it into a part of systematic training.
"Athletes naturally show a sense of beauty when they raise their hands and legs. This is the central idea of 'art and body are not separated' as I understand."
"I hope that the Chinese Dance Association and the Figure Skating Association will maintain their high fighting spirit to know the burden and face challenges." Huang Doudou, secretary of the Secretariat of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, pointed out that the Chinese Dance Association not only selects professional teachers to guide athletes for professional dance training and enhances artistic expression, but also The two sides should also take a long-term perspective, based on mechanism innovation, discover and cultivate more outstanding talents, and realize the high-quality integration of arts and sports in an all-round way.
"Two-way and cross-border" talent training for the integration of arts and sports
At the 2018 National Figure Skating Championships, Shen Hongfei from the High School Attached to Beijing Dance Academy and his partner Wang Lichun performed an unrestrained flamenco on the ice and won the ice dance crossover and crossover category championship.
At that time, Shen Hongfei had just turned 7 months into skating.
Zhao Hongbo, the head coach of the Chinese figure skating team, told the media at the time that some foreign experts present felt incredible when they saw the children's performance.
As a staged achievement of Chinese figure skating cross-border and cross-event selection, these children have shown their potential in the competition.
The cultivation of talents through the integration of arts and sports has achieved initial results between the dance and figure skating circles.
In 2018, the China Figure Skating Association and Beijing Dance Academy jointly established a "cross-border and cross-skill" training program. 52 students were selected from the International Standard Dance Department of the Middle School Affiliated to Beijing Dance Academy and participated in ice training for more than a month. Assign 6 students to cross-border ice dance training.
Shen Hongfei, who was in the first year of the High School Affiliated to Beijing Dance Academy at that time, was one of the six classmates.
Shen Hongfei began to learn ballroom dance from the third grade of elementary school and was exposed to Latin dance in the first year of junior high school.
When he first came into contact with figure skating, Shen Hongfei found it very interesting, "It is very free on ice, it has more fluidity and impact than dance."
Although he learned figure skating with zero foundation, practicing dance since childhood gave Shen Hongfei and his classmates a stronger control over their bodies.
When they first got on the ice, everyone was trembling, and they had to hold on to the wall to stand firm.
In less than two hours, most of the students were able to stand on the ice and perform simple skating.
In Shen Hongfei's view, dance and figure skating are interlinked. "Breathing and skating like dance can help me skate better."
The figure skating competition of the 2nd National Youth Games in 2019 was the first time for Shen Hongfei to compete with professional players of the same age. He and his partner won the third place in the rhythmic dance of the sports school group.
Last year, Shen Hongfei and his partner participated in the 2021 China Figure Skating Club League competition. Netizens sighed under the video of the competition: "This pair of cross-border ice dancers is very expressive, and the two dance styles are too full."
Today, Shen Hongfei is 19 years old.
As a freshman at the Beijing Dance Academy, his life trajectory was unshakable: he got up at 6 am every morning, went to the ice rink to practice on the ice for 4 hours, and then went back to school to study dance courses.
In December last year, Shen Hongfei served as the first set of figure skating broadcast drills in the country, "I hope to contribute to the popularization and development of figure skating."
In addition to moving from dancing to skating, two-way crossovers are also taking place.
In 2019, the North Dance High School opened a figure skating experimental class, and selected 4 ice dancers and a female single skater from more than 200 skating students, and achieved good results.
"Whether it is cross-border and cross-event or figure skating experimental class, they are all new concepts and new attempts in figure skating." Yang Fang, the head coach of the North Dance Group of the figure skating training team, said that both the figure skating and dance worlds are constantly trying In the process, find various methods and modes suitable for helping figure skating players grow up, so that children can develop a sense of art from their bones under the influence of dance.
In Yang Fang's view, figure skating is the closest combination of art and sports.
The integration of sports and art is related to education. Figure skating coaches, dance teachers, and parents of students are needed to help children, so that they can go further and fly higher with the blessing of spiritual concepts and art learning.
"In the stage of enlightenment and the initial stage of talent training, we should implant all aspects of art into the players' bodies, and let them grow and blossom slowly like seeds." Fei Bo believes that the improvement of the artistic literacy of dancers in figure skating should be carried out in one step. Starting from a small start requires a long-term collision and fusion of dance and sports at the artistic and technical levels.
Shen Hongfei often thinks of that special summer in 2018.
"From a toddler with zero basic knowledge on ice to being able to participate in competitions, in the past four years, we have practiced the spirit of the Beijing Winter Olympics. We cannot stop for a moment, and we cannot afford to delay a day. Let the fusion of arts and sports and cross-border and cross-item become our brightest labels in the future.”
Shen Hongfei hopes that, as one of the first cross-border and cross-sport ice dance athletes, under the leadership of the Figure Skating Association and the support of the Dancers Association, he can achieve better results in his career as an athlete.
"After retiring, I hope that I can summarize the practical experience of skateboarding and various dance styles, and provide innovative and standardized methods for the next generation of athletes to learn from."
He believes that it is through this form that Chinese figure skaters achieve inheritance and innovation from generation to generation.
Telling Chinese Cultural Stories with Figure Skating
The logo of the Beijing Winter Olympics was born out of seal carving and calligraphy, the countdown to the twenty-four solar terms at the opening ceremony was full of classical charm, the closing ceremony was a farewell to international friends, and there was a strong Chinese style in the figure skating costumes and soundtracks... Chinese traditional culture has already penetrated into every detail of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and has been integrated with the Winter Olympics, providing spiritual nourishment for this sports event and cultural event.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the summary and commendation meeting of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the Winter Paralympic Games that self-confidence and openness means being generous, open and inclusive, adhering to the self-confidence of the socialist road with Chinese characteristics, theoretical self-confidence, institutional self-confidence, and cultural self-confidence, and creative transformation , Innovative development conveys profound cultural heritage, demonstrates the concept of long-standing civilization with simplicity, demonstrates the sincerity and friendliness of the Chinese people with hospitality, and promotes mutual understanding and friendship among people from all over the world with exchanges of civilizations.
On the world stage, telling Chinese cultural stories with Chinese elements and conveying profound cultural heritage with innovative development has always been the common pursuit of the figure skating and dance circles in the exchange and integration.
"Only the nation belongs to the world." In 1995, at the World Figure Skating Championships in Birmingham, UK, Chinese athlete Chen Lu integrated the dance moves from the frescoes in Dunhuang, China into the free skating program, conquering the judges with superb skills and unique oriental charm With the audience, for the first time, the Chinese name was written into the list of world figure skating champions.
In the ice dance free dance competition of the Beijing Winter Olympics figure skating team competition, Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu wore the competition uniform of "green mountains and green waters" based on Chinese landscape paintings, and performed the Chinese style program "Kung Fu Magic Qin: The Rise of the Cello".
This program is called the ice dance version "only this green" by netizens, and it also created the best results of Chinese athletes in the ice dance event of the Winter Olympics.
Figure skaters of different eras are using unique Chinese charm to convey the appearance of China's five thousand years of civilization.
Peng Cheng said that the integration of traditional Chinese cultural elements in figure skating programs is not deliberate, but in the blood.
"To express our true feelings is the best interpretation of Chinese culture."
However, in international figure skating competitions, athletes are relatively cautious about the use of traditional Chinese cultural elements.
Figure skating originated in the United Kingdom in the mid-18th century and has a long history of development in Europe and the United States. The podium of the world competition was once monopolized by Europeans and Americans.
In order to make their works understood and loved by more judges and audiences, Asian players often choose to perform European and American music.
Huang Feng, a competition consultant for the China Figure Skating Association, said many international judges don't know much about Chinese music and dance.
Some athletes once used "Liang Zhu" as the background music of the figure skating program, but foreign referees did not understand what the athletes meant when discussing the program.
"I said that this is China's "Romeo and Juliet", so everyone can understand, but the time for judgment was over." Huang Feng believes that we need to make Chinese culture known internationally by more people.
"I hope that one day, when I see foreign players in figure skating competitions, they will all do the Chinese-style 'regular dance'." Sui Wenjing said that there are different styles of prescribed dance in ice dance. In the past two years, a foreign athlete showed An excellent performance in the Hip-Pop style that has since become part of the ice dance rules.
Sui Wenjing believes that athletes should work harder to achieve better results in the field of figure skating, make their own style unique, win the approval of referees in the world arena, and bring Chinese style to the world.
"That day was worth our full effort."
Incorporating traditional Chinese culture into figure skating is no easy task.
In the process of discussing with athletes, Su Peng tried to integrate classical dance movements into figure skating from the appearance, but encountered "integration Waterloo" in teaching.
"After this experience, I have a feeling that figure skating presents the beauty of ice on the ice where sports and art are integrated, and the choice of dance is more unique." After learning from the failure experience, Su Peng tried to jump out of the technical level, from the Explore the possible connection between the power of dance, the power of ice and Chinese culture.
In Su Peng's view, the flow, setback, wandering, emergency stop, hovering, sprinting, buffering, weightlessness, etc. between the ice and the blade embodies a certain abstract force, and is the traditional Chinese aesthetic principle of coexistence of reality and reality.
"The sinicization of figure skating works, perhaps the focus lies in the unique power of Chinese culture, which is the coexistence of reality and reality." Su Peng has a new idea. In pair skating, the relationship between two athletes, a man and a woman, can be regarded as one and the same. The yin and yang are in harmony; and the fluidity of skating just reflects the Chinese philosophy that "all things in the universe are a kind of flowing air".
Taking this as a starting point, the care of the relationship between yin and yang and the vivid description of the rhythm are embedded in the figure skating works, which will help to start from the cultural core and show the concept of traditional Chinese philosophy "Tao follows nature".
From this, Su Peng thinks of calligraphy, a traditional Chinese art.
"The dance on ice is a prerequisite for the art of Chinese calligraphy. If the athletes are regarded as brushstrokes, ink marks and brushwork, and the calligraphy rhapsody is reflected on the ice, it may constitute an interesting attempt to Chineseize figure skating."
According to Shen Xue, chairman of the China Figure Skating Association, Chinese calligraphy can be conveyed through the body in an artistic language on ice.
At the same time, Shen Xue said that only integration and innovation can make Chinese figure skating go far.
"All walks of life are limited in their own small fields, and they can't go long or far. We need the strength of all people to help us maximize our effectiveness in the shortest time."
"It is necessary to carry forward the confidence of Chinese culture, and fully tap the excellent traditional Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese spirit on the premise of strong alliances and complementary resources." Feng Ying, head of the Central Ballet, said that no matter in sports competitions or in the field of art, we must stand Under our feet, on the thick soil that contains the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation, we should blaze a path with our own characteristics, jointly establish a sports and art discourse system, and have our right to speak on the world arena and stage.
Feng Shuangbai, chairman of the China Dance Association, said that it is necessary to break the boundaries between art and sports, let athletes open up and liberate themselves, and make competitive competitions a beautiful enjoyment of the integration of art and technology.
"The integration of art and sports has achieved results. To explore how the form of art performance with Chinese characteristics can go to the world and be recognized by the world, we need to work hard in the direction of bolder and more diverse integration."
Yu Bingyue, a trainee reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily Source: China Youth Daily