The dance variety show "Dancing for a Thousand Years", co-produced by Henan Satellite TV and Station B, and co-produced by Huanwei Digital, is currently on the air - five recommended dancers, Qiao Zhenyu, Zhang Xiaolong, Hu Yang, Hua Xiaoyi, and Xu Minghao, and 13 top dance group

Henan Satellite TV and B station jointly produced and produced, Magic Dimension Digital jointly produced the dance variety show " Dance Thousand Years " is currently on the air - Qiao Zhenyu , Zhang Xiaolong , Hu Yang , Hua Xiaoyi , five recommended dancers, Xu Minghao, and 13 top dance troupes traveled to four dynasties to tell the Chinese stories contained in dance.

Different from the popular dance competition variety shows on the market, "Dancing for a Thousand Years" uses the form of film and television dramas to assist the narrative, pave the way for the emotions conveyed by dance, and make the audience feel fresh; "phase and song", "step song" and " Dances such as "Shadow of the Chivalrous Umbrella" and the cultural stories behind them also left a deep impression on the audience. Why does

adopt the form of film and television dramas? How did you find dances with historical and cultural origins such as "Xianghe Song" and "Ta Ge"? What are the criteria for selecting recommended dancers? Why did the special effects of " Confucius " detract from the dance? The Beijing News reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Feng Zheng, Jiang Xiaowei and Xu Peng, the three chief directors of "Dance for a Thousand Years".

"Fire"

" Tang Palace Night Banquet " to "Dance for a Thousand Years"

Cultural variety shows want to embrace young people

From "Tang Palace Night Banquet" " Luo Shen Shui Fu " to " Mid-Autumn Wonderful Tour ", Henan Satellite TV Since the beginning of this year, he has made many appearances with dance programs that showcase traditional Chinese culture . "Dancing for a Thousand Years", currently launched in cooperation with Station B, is currently on the air. It is still a dance variety show telling Chinese cultural stories.

Feng Zheng, one of the chief directors of "Dance for a Thousand Years", is also the deputy director of the Innovation Program Center of Henan Satellite TV. In an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News, he said frankly that Henan Satellite TV's focus on cultural programs is both accidental and inevitable. "To put it bluntly, it is also a lonely and helpless choice." On the one hand, it is because Henan has a very good cultural heritage and cultural resources, but on the other hand, it is also because it is "poor" and does not have enough money to invite celebrities to do mainstream entertainment variety shows. "We made some attempts in 2015 and found that there is a huge difference in this type of entertainment variety show with or without the participation of celebrities."

TV programs need to have high ratings to obtain good results. Advertising revenue is used to support the continuation of the program. As for cultural variety shows, the biggest dilemma they have faced for a long time is whether they are popular or not. Without good ratings, it will be difficult to sustain. "After this year's Spring Festival Gala "Tang Palace Night Banquet" became popular, we feel that we have seen a newer, more fashionable way of expressing traditional culture that is more popular with the younger generation. The dance itself is beautiful, and it can find a new way to express traditional culture through new expression techniques. If it’s a good carrier, it’s a win-win situation.”

Feng Zheng said that Station B and Henan Satellite TV are on different tracks, but they have the same interest in traditional Chinese culture, and the users of Station B are mainly young people, especially college students. , which is exactly what TV stations with middle-aged and older audiences lack. "Culture needs to be spread by young people. If our program wants to embrace young people, we must understand what young people are like and what they like. So we chose to cooperate with Station B on "Dance for a Thousand Years"."

"Photo "Waka"

Film and television techniques are used to foreshadow the emotions

"Confucius" has poor special effects for a reason

"Dancing for a Thousand Years" adopts the expression techniques of film and television dramas to tell the story behind the dance through the plot. For example, "Take Song" tells the story of a beautiful encounter between a young girl and a young boy on a spring outing; "Fire" tells the story of a mother in a primitive tribe who died trying to make fire, and her daughter wiped away her tears and brought fire to the tribe. The actors performed well and their costumes were so good that some viewers commented: "This is actually a costume drama!"

"Dance for a Thousand Years" adopts the performance techniques of film and television dramas. The

director team said that the introduction of film and television expression techniques was based on two considerations. The first is to seek novelty. At the beginning of the preparation of "Dancing for a Thousand Years", they decided that this show could not be like any previous show. “In the field of television, nothing is as good as something new. Novelty is very important, and you can never be a follower forever.If we adopt the existing variety show model, we would have started later than others and do not have much money, so it would be difficult to leave a deep memory for the audience. "

The second thing is to consider the public's cognitive bias towards dance. Many viewers think that dance is a foil art, such as dancing behind the singer, acting as a moving background board and atmosphere group. In the past, dance was also very popular in large-scale evening parties on TV stations. He rarely becomes the protagonist of the stage and is often put together with other programs. The director team has conducted research and found that ordinary audiences not only have cognitive biases about dance, but also often do not understand what dance expresses. “Dance is good at lyricism but weak at it. narrative. Very few people cry when they see a certain scene, because it takes a process for emotions to brew. Film and television techniques provide the audience with such a psychological construction process, allowing them to better understand the dancers' expressions and appreciate the appeal of dance. "

"Shadow of Chivalry"

"Dancing for a Thousand Years" new forms of expression involve the three fields of dance, variety shows, and film and television. Dance serves the stage and needs to communicate with the audience through the dancers' movements, makeup, formation and other elements. Establish a connection; film and television scripts need to have enough time and space to present the characters arc ; variety show reality shows also need a long time to pave the way for the growth of the characters, how to integrate the three self-contained fields for program production. The director team described every step as being difficult, like opening up wasteland. They didn't know whether they were going the right way or not, and whether the audience would buy it.

One of the specific difficulties the director team faced was the live performance of the dance. When I was preparing to shoot the first episode of the dance "Confucius" in August this year, there was heavy rainfall in Henan, and the road to the original filming location collapsed, so I had no choice but to shoot in front of a green screen in a studio. The special effects were used to create the background. However, netizens did not approve of the special effects and complained that the special effects in "Confucius" detracted from the dance. "But there is no way. "The director team said that the two subsequent Dunhuang dances were affected by the epidemic and were unable to go to Dunhuang for local filming as planned. They are currently considering alternatives.

The special effects of "Confucius" were criticized by the audience.

At first, I didn't know that "Taga" was good. Where

Wants Dance to Come Out of the Palace

"Dancing for a Thousand Years" is currently broadcast in two episodes, presenting 6 dances of different styles, "Xianghe Song" and "Tap Song". They are not only graceful in dance, but also have profound historical and cultural origins. While enjoying the dance, the audience also had an in-depth understanding of traditional Chinese culture.

"Tap Song"

"Tap Song" emerged in the Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago and was popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was started by the famous dance performance artist Sun Ying at the end of the last century. It is reproduced in historical materials; the Qipan Dance ( Pandeng ) in "Xianghege" originated from the portrait bricks unearthed in Sichuan in 1956 that recorded the life of the Han Dynasty. Sun Ying performed the image of the Qipan Dance on the portrait bricks. It shows bold artistic imagination and dance creation, recreating the romantic grace of our ancestors dancing on the sun, moon and stars.

Many netizens lamented on the barrage: How many excellent traditions are there like "Xianghe Song" and "Ta Song". Is the dance not known by more people? The director team said that at the beginning of the preparation, they thought it would be difficult to find such a dance, and they were even worried that the show would be finished after only two or three episodes. After the group conducted research, they discovered that there are quite a few such dances, but ordinary people rarely have the opportunity to see them. "For ordinary people, watching a dance performance may not be as enjoyable as watching a concert, and they may not understand it after watching a drama. "

"Dancing for a Thousand Years" sent a questionnaire to dancers, experts and scholars in the circle. One of the questions was "Who is your favorite dancer and dance? "Everyone's favorite dancers are different, but among the top three dances they like, "Tap Song" must be among the top three. Experts also recommended "Tap Song" to the director team. So they found the video data of "Tap Song" and found that it was completely different. I can't understand what's so good about it.

What they saw was video material recorded in the 1980s and 1990s. The video media was relatively old and the recording was relatively rough.In addition, people don't know much about the story behind "Take", so it is difficult to understand it. "I haven't seen such dance in many years. In fact, now everyone knows more about street dance and ballet, but few people know about Chinese classical dance. We want to present these dances to the audience and let dance come out of the hall. "

Recommended Dance Officers are chosen to reflect the inheritance.

Qiao Zhenyu and Zhang Xiaolong will both dance.

The five recommended dancers in the program: Qiao Zhenyu, Zhang Xiaolong, Hu Yang, Hua Xiaoyi, and Xu Minghao play different roles in different dynasties. Recommended They thought it was a dance worthy enough to be selected into the "Twelve Winds of Dance". The scene for the first and second dance recommendations was the Tongquetai banquet, where the two camps of Cao Pi and Cao Zhi competed through the recommendation dances. The director team said that they basically chose well-known scenes from the culturally prosperous dynasty, but the story performed by the recommended dancer is fictional.

Recommended Dancers Qiao Zhenyu and Zhang Xiaolong

The director team has only one criterion for selecting recommended dancers. They hope that all recommended dancers are professional dancers, or have been professional dancers. "Four of the current five recommended dancers are graduates of Beijing Dance Academy. But what we want to emphasize is not their professionalism in dance, but their relevance to dance. As people who truly understand dance People, they recommend good dance to the audience, it is such a simple and straightforward logic. "

In addition, the director team also hopes to reflect the concept of "inheritance" through the combination of five recommended dancers. "Dance needs to be passed on, and so does Chinese traditional culture. Among the recommended dancers are Qiao Zhenyu and Zhang Xiaolong, who are relatively older and have more experience, Hu Yang and Hua Xiaoyi, who are still dancing, and younger ones , Xu Minghao, who has overseas experience, is more of a learner. "As the etiquette director of costume dramas such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace", he recommended dancer Zhang Xiaolong in "Dancing for a Thousand Years". Li also wears two hats, providing etiquette guidance to the actors on the show.

Behind-the-scenes photos of the five recommended dancers.

Currently, Hu Yang, Hua Xiaoyi, and Xu Minghao have all performed dances on the show. Many viewers are curious whether Qiao Zhenyu and Zhang Xiaolong, who are from Beijing Dance University but have been working in film and television in recent years, will dance in future programs? The answer from the director team is yes: "They will all dance after the show." Although they usually cannot spend a lot of time practicing like professional dancers, they do have some concerns about the next performance, worrying that they will not meet their own standards. But the love for dance eventually outweighed the worries of not being able to deliver a perfect dance.

Beijing News senior reporter Yang Lianjie

editor Tong Na proofreader Wang Xin