The new martial arts dance drama "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" premieres in Nanjing: dance and martial arts combine to reconstruct Jin Yong's world

China News Service, Nanjing, November 13 (Zhang Jiali, Zhang Ming) There are no lines, no camera switching, the love, hate, and chivalry between Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu are all completed by the dancer's body. On November 13, Jin Yong's new martial arts dance drama "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" premiered at the Nanjing Poly Grand Theater. On the eve of the show's premiere, the creator and starring actors introduced the creation process of China's first new martial arts dance drama officially authorized by Jin Yong to the audience.

"This is a ground-breaking attempt." Jiang Xiong, the chief editor and director of the play, said bluntly that Mr. Jin Yong's original work is rich in content, and the film and television adaptation often requires dozens of episodes, but the stage time of the dance drama is extremely limited. "Faced with such a situation, the creative team's choice was to abandon an all-inclusive retelling and seize the two lines of 'love' and 'xia'."

Jiang Xiong pointed out several layers of "newness" in this new martial arts dance drama: the first layer is the change in the narrative method, using dance to narrate and body language to express ideas; the second layer is the update of visual expression, using contemporary stage lighting, costumes, and multimedia to reshape the artistic conception of Jianghu; the third layer is also the most critical layer, " Let the audience see another possibility of martial arts in dance. From the Eighteen Palms of Subduing the Dragon, Jade Girl's Heart Sutra to the Palm of Ecstasy... these moves that are familiar to Jin Yong's readers could only be accomplished through text and special effects, but now they need to be 'grown' from the way the dancers use their strength."

The difficulty lies precisely in the fact that dance and martial arts are two sets of body logic. Dance emphasizes control, lines and rhythm, while martial arts emphasizes strength, speed and moves. They may look similar, but may not be natural when they are actually stacked together. In this regard, Pan Lei, director of the Opera and Dance Theater of Jiangsu Performing Arts Group, said that during the rehearsal, the creative team realized that dance alone was not enough and that they had to find a combination of dance and martial arts. Therefore, since the crew started rehearsing in April this year, all members have systematically practiced swords, sticks, and guns. The Wia team was stationed simultaneously and invited national Tai Chi champion Wang Zhenyu to serve as a martial arts instructor.

Executive choreographer Yang Kang summed up this combination in one sentence: "Martial arts is the bone and dance is the soul." He used the sword combination of Yang Guo and Xiao Longnu in the dance drama as an example: the breathing, charm, and emotional connection of the two people must be visible in the movements.

In a previous interview, producer Wen Zhenchang commented on this drama: it did not pile up complicated plots, but captured the two key words of 'love' and 'xia'. The Jianghu written on paper by Mr. Jin Yong has been re-translated into a ‘language’ that does not require translation.

It is reported that after its premiere in Nanjing on November 13, the play will move to the Majestic Theater in Shanghai from November 20 to 22, and then start its first national tour.