China News Service, Shanghai, October 6 (Reporter Wang Ji) Jiangsu Grand Theater's original dance drama "Chu River and Han Border" had its Chinese premiere at the Shanghai Cultural Plaza on the evening of the 5th. It focused on the conflict between Chu and Han more than 2,000 years ago, and included life and death, honor and disgrace, rise and fall, joy and sorrow into a historical chess game.
The turbulent times were turbulent, and the rise and fall of the Qin and Han Dynasties were at hand. In the dark, a Chu River and Han boundary divide the mountains and rivers. On both sides of the "chasm" are Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, and Liu Bang, the commoner emperor who reshaped the unified dynasty; Queen Lu Pheasant in gorgeous clothes, and the wisp of Yu Ji's soul under the sword light; the question of survival or destruction, and the lives of all living beings whose lives are like strings...
Stills from the dance drama Chuhehanjie. Photo courtesy of Jiangsu Grand Theater
The dance drama "Chu, River and Han" integrates the essence of traditional Chinese chess culture into the narrative texture, and is guided by the Eastern philosophy of "the heaven and the earth are the board, and all things are the chess". It three-dimensionally restores the historical picture of the struggle between Chu and Han and the iterative style of Qin and Han civilization, and deeply explores the human struggle and helpless fate behind the historical figures, constructing an Oriental aesthetic space on the modern stage that has both historical depth and artistic quality.
"Grand narratives and the ideal pursuit of historical figures always attract and move me." Li Chao, director of the dance drama "Chu, River and Han", said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service on the evening of the 5th that "Chu, River and Han" uses the symmetrical logic contained in Chinese chess and other Eastern wisdom to "break the story" and reshape the story of Chu and Han. Also, because people have common knowledge of chess, Go and other chess games and resonate with their thoughts on life, the play is easier to understand by audiences in different regions.
Stills from the dance drama Chuhehanjie. Photo courtesy of Jiangsu Grand Theater
"In the past, my works (referring to "A Dream of Red Mansions", "The Rite of Spring", etc.) were known for their exquisiteness, but this time I wanted to express the feelings that war brought to me through the sense of disorder, destruction, and chaos." Li Chao hopes that audiences in different situations can gain the courage to face life dilemmas and "breaks" from "Chu River and Han Bie", as well as the "temporary detachment and romance" needed in life.
Li Kaiyuan, the drama's historical and literary consultant, pointed out that successful dance dramas in the past mostly revolved around smaller narrative objects, and the dance style was more lyrical; while "Chu River and Han Dynasty" presents a grand historical process, portrays multiple characters, and has a masculine style, further expanding the narrative boundaries of dance. "History is a vast ocean with a lot of blank spaces. How to use the bits and pieces of records left behind to restore, speculate or consider the entire vast ocean leaves a huge space for artistic creation."
