Chinese Opera Movements
Saturday, August 8, 2009, 6:35 AM
“The choreographic nature of acting on the Chinese stage,” A.C. Scott wrote in the International Encyclopedia of Dance, “is apparent in the formalized treatment of movement and gesture, integrated with passages of song and music, in which words are treated as time-movement units. Hand gestures symbolizing emotional reactions create a continuous visible element with the tonal movement of the actors’ singing and declamation. Graceful passages of pointing with the fingers of one or both hands move through spatial sequences attended by the following glances of the performer, whose foot movements timed to the music carry forward the motifs of the dance.”Delta wrote: “Always present...is the manner of moving used to define the specific individual being portrayed. Roles fall into genres—human beings, animals and birds, and supernatural beings...Ghost are conceived of as being stiff, devils as curvaceous; they dance grotesquely and humorously...The intrinsic quality of each animal or bird is fancifully and fully exploited—the powerful tiger, the brazen leopard, the sly fox, or the wily eagle.”
“Because classical opera uses no scenery, the actor-dancer sets the stage by incorporating the idea of physical environment onto gesture and movement...Action expands the stage when, from atop three stacked tables, the dancer does a double somersault to indicate he is running down a mountain. Many actor-dancers turn the stage into a sea with spread-eagle leaps, diving falls and spiraling turns...A general on a symbolic horse uses slipping, sliding and collapsing movements to portray efforts to advance on icy ground.”
“The choreographic nature of acting on the Chinese stage,” A.C. Scott wrote in the International Encyclopedia of Dance, “is apparent in the formalized treatment of movement and gesture, integrated with passages of song and music, in which words are treated as time-movement units. Hand gestures symbolizing emotional reactions create a continuous visible element with the tonal movement of the actors’ singing and declamation. Graceful passages of pointing with the fingers of one or both hands move through spatial sequences attended by the following glances of the performer, whose foot movements timed to the music carry forward the motifs of the dance.”
Delta wrote: “Always present...is the manner of moving used to define the specific individual being portrayed. Roles fall into genres—human beings, animals and birds, and supernatural beings...Ghost are conceived of as being stiff, devils as curvaceous; they dance grotesquely and humorously...The intrinsic quality of each animal or bird is fancifully and fully exploited—the powerful tiger, the brazen leopard, the sly fox, or the wily eagle.”
“Because classical opera uses no scenery, the actor-dancer sets the stage by incorporating the idea of physical environment onto gesture and movement...Action expands the stage when, from atop three stacked tables, the dancer does a double somersault to indicate he is running down a mountain. Many actor-dancers turn the stage into a sea with spread-eagle leaps, diving falls and spiraling turns...A general on a symbolic horse uses slipping, sliding and collapsing movements to portray efforts to advance on icy ground.”
Director: All
Playwrights: Isaac
Secretary: Rachel
Costume: Wenzhen
Set: Priscilla
Lights/Sound: Priscilla
Movement coach: Saad
TSDian
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Isaac's Rojak I.blog
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Melvyn
Isaac
Afiqah
Chenxing
Mark
Rachel
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