November 1, 2016, she is from Taiwan, Baodao. She is one of the most well-known and outstanding Chinese dancers in the world. She once served as the chief dancer in the world-famous Martha Gram Dance Team. She was also the main actor of Taiwan’s famous Yunmen dance collection " Water Moon ". She was also invited to participate in the special performance of the movie "Flying Against the Light". In "Assassin Nie Yinniang" directed by director Hou Hsiao-hyun , she played the roles of Kashgar and Princess Jiaxin... She is Xu Fangyi. On November 2 and 3, he joined hands with Zhu Yan, the chief dancer of the China National Ballet, to bring the world premiere of the new dance work "My Heart" at the National Grand Theater, in order to look back and commemorate his 20 years of dance career.
Excellent Chinese dancer Xu Fangyi
On the day of the interview, behind Xu Fangyi's seat, a promotional poster of "My Heart" was placed. In the photo, Xu Fangyi was sitting on the floor, her long scattered hair was soaked in sweat, and she was stuck on her face, her eyes were deep and her expression was gloomy. This is not a beautiful photo in the usual sense, but Xu Fangyi doesn't mind, "This is an action in "My Heart", which means that there are no side to see from the audience's perspective. Just as life also has different angles, there are many wonderful stories in my life process. God takes good care of me. No matter where I go, I always have the opportunity to experience different life lessons. Some topics seem simple but cannot pass the 10 years. Sometimes, standing at the edge of the cliff, but starting an alternative movement of life is turned on by thinking about it. There are so many challenges, frustrations, laughter and happiness, and many tastes of life can only be experienced seriously when one person is alone. This is the happiness and price of my dream."
9 was discovered at the age of 09 and
Xu Fangyi's dream is dancing, but she discovered the potential of her body at the age of 19. "I had been 'playing' in art school for three years before I was 19. At that time, I was happy, but my parents didn't want me to dance. Their idea was to study hard, otherwise I wouldn't have a job. Until I was 19 years old, our school came to Ross Parker, a famous Australian dance teacher. He watched the performance of us girls and touched me. He said that my body had great potential, and at that time, I started a promise I gave myself to concentrate on dancing. From that day on, my life changed," Xu Fangyi told reporters.
The second change in Xu Fangyi's dance career was after she arrived in New York. She said: "It was first in my hometown, and later in Taipei. When I arrived in New York, I found that Taiwan was just a small island and the world was too big. However, I encountered my first failure in New York. When I applied for a dance troupe, I lost the election at 20 to 3. This failure made me understand what the best is, what is the best when comparing with dancers from all over the world, how to adjust myself, I understand that I should break myself and start over."
In 1995, Xu Fangyi joined the Martha Graham Dance Company. In 1997, she had already served as solo dancer in the dance troupe, and was promoted to the principal dancer in just two years later. "I respect Martha Graham very much. There are too many human things in Graham's works. If you have the opportunity to become her dancer, it seems like you have lived several different lives through the works. This also makes me more believe that there is a chance for a dancer to become a performer and then to advance to an artist. A dancer is not just a prop for the creator. Graham's works can make a truly good performer feel like he is walking through the path of life to the fullest."
But in 2006, Xu Fangyi chose to leave Martha Graham Dance Group. "At my 30s, my life and career reached a stable stage, and suddenly I felt dissatisfied. My dream was to cooperate with the best artists in the world and stand on the best stage. This dream has been brewing for 4 years, but I don't know what to do next. The only way to prevent me from looking back is to cut off my most comfortable things, put aside my stable salary, and put aside my status as a leading actress.I know that I will encounter many difficulties when I move forward. I am afraid that one day when I am hungry and cold, I will see a warm cottage behind me that can keep warm. There is a hot soup for one night. Do you think I will go back? Of course I will go back, and human willpower has also collapsed..."
Xu Fangyi saw these things rationally, so she decided to cut off her own way of retreat just to see what possibilities there are in her future. "I want to manage a life attitude that lives a wonderful life, and the strength I need is different from ordinary. Managing yourself to make life wonderful is my course, and setting an example is my textbook. Crazy dreams, crazy performances, crazy creations, incredibly burning life just to create a stage of life of one's own. I'm not afraid that I'm different from the world. "
How did Zhu Yan find her partner who is extremely similar and tacitly understood?
After leaving the Martha Graham Dance Group, Xu Fangyi established "Xu Fangyi and Artist" in 2011 and has worked with well-known artists from all over the world for many years. "When I was young, others gave me the opportunity to go on stage, and I also want to be the person who creates a stage for others." Based on this belief, Xu Fangyi held "Creative Week" since 2015 to invite international young people Artists participate in the creation and create a stage for young people. The first half of this new work "My Heart" expresses Xu Fangyi's wish. Another important reason for creating the work "My Heart" is that Xu Fangyi met a partner who is extremely similar and extremely tacit, Zhu Yan, the chief dancer of the Central Ballet. "You can't imagine how similar we are. Once the lighting engineer asked me where did you find this person who is almost the same as you? "Xu Fangyi said, "Actually this is an opportunity and a coincidence. Last year, I wanted to find a dance companion. Someone recommended Zhu Yan. The next day after watching her performance, we communicated in the rehearsal hall in Zhongba. Zhu Yan always emphasized that she could not dance modern dance, but when she took off her pointe shoes, I found that her love for dance had a lot of rich content in her body. At that time, I told myself that it was her. "
Usually people are worried that dancers may say goodbye to the stage when they reach a certain age, but this is not the case in Xu Fangyi's opinion. "Growing age is a plus for performers. The youthful body brings enthusiasm and joy, which is different from the current mature and wise body. Even if you stand there without saying a word, the audience still wants to watch it. Not every dancer can achieve this, and Zhu Yan is one of the very few. "
One specializes in modern dance, and the other is the top dancer of classical ballet . The scene between Xu Fangyi and Zhu Yan is not in the professional field, but they have a rare purity and cleanliness. Xu Fangyi told reporters that in order to cooperate with this work, Zhu Yan went to Taiwan twice. The first thing they did in the morning was to go to the rehearsal venue to warm up and rehearse. One row was for a whole day, and then went home. After returning home, they reviewed all the things they did today, did their homework well, and continued the next day.
"Usually, when they go to a strange place, they want to explore a place where they eat, drink and have fun. Zhu Yan has no desire at all. I have been to Beijing several times, and I have never been to anywhere. The focus is on the performance. No matter how delicious the food is, it doesn't matter, because my sense of accomplishment and satisfaction comes from work. I don’t feel that losing and sacrificing anything in life is the result of choice. ”
More people are familiar with Xu Fangyi. Maybe it comes from the movies "Flying Against the Light" and "Assassin Nie Yinniang", but when director Hou Hsiao-hsien first found Xu Fangyi, she refused because she was about to perform a work and had been preparing for two years. "At that time, I didn't feel that I had lost a great opportunity, because dancing is everything for me. Unexpectedly, when all my performances ended that year, the director's phone number came again, so of course I couldn't afford it. I immediately said to the director: ‘Then please give me more advice. ’” Xu Fangyi admitted that participating in the film performance opened up another horizon for herself, “When you go to an unfamiliar professional field, you can learn like a primary school student, everything is fresh, you can put down everything you carry, and then think about doing something in this field with my major.It turns out that there is a big difference between the performances of the movie through the camera and the performances directly facing the audience on the stage. This is very interesting. You have to free up some space before new things can be put in. "
chatting with Xu Fangyi is a very comfortable process. She tells her sincerity slowly. Her persistence in belief and her transcendence in life are perfectly unified in a person's body. When asked why she could change her thoughts so quickly when she encountered unpleasant things, her answer was still calm, "It's because she has been outside for too long. If you don't save yourself, no one can save you. Crying is a day, and laughing is a day. How do you live it? ”
Source: Beijing Evening News Beiwan New Vision Network Reporter Luo Ying
