北境漫步-
Ballet, which is a one form of performance dance, was originated in the Italian Renaissance courts and it was developed in different countries. It was transformed as concert dance in France, England, and Russia, especially in France. Louis XIV commended to establish the first dancing school in Paris, in where the basic ballet poses were formed. (Julia, 2006) It has since become a highly technical form of dance and be preformed by the trained artist. Ballet can be divided into three formalized types. They are classical ballet, neoclassical ballet and contemporary ballet, the classical is the most typical one, and it based on to traditional ballet technique. It is said that classical ballet is defined by three rules : everything is turned-out ; when the feet are not on the floor, they"re pointed ; when the leg is not bent, it stretched completely.(Bland, 1976) Neoclassical ballet is similar to classic ballet but is less rigid than it. Contemporary ballet is influenced by both the classical ballet and modern dance. Nowadays ballet has been influential as a form of art and be taught in school around the world. Different countries use their own culture to understand and inform the art. The Cuban version of the ballet "Giselle" and the Chinese ballet "Red Girl" Regiment are the best cases to analyze.
There is a big distinguish between Cuba culture and Chinese culture. More over the background behind these two ballets is different which lead to the different styles of ballet. In this essay, the two art work will be compared and contrasted from a cross-culture perspective.
The development and spread of ballet in China is much later than which in Europe. First the Russian ballet has big effects on Chinese ballet. Since the first teacher training classes was founded by the expert O.A.Yealina who came from Soviet Union and the Beijing Academy of Dance was established in 1954 till many famous plays such as Swan Lake, Giselle were performed on the stage in 1958 with the help of many artists like Dai Ailian. (Zhang, 2007) Chinese ballet has gain big progresses during these four years. New generations of outstanding ballerinas have been given birth to. After 1964, Chinese artists try to add Chinese culture into ballet and create a new type of ballet. The Red Girl"s Regiment is created in 1964 and first performed by the Ballet Troupe of the Central Song and Dance Ensemble in Beijing in 1964, which is regarded as an excellent example of ballet"s "evolution". It tells a story happened in 1920s when the second revolution broke up. On the Hainan Island, Guangdong province, there is a slave girl named Wu Qionghua was always bullied by a landlord called Nan Batian. She cannot stand any more, hence she ran away from him and meet Hong Changqing by chance, who is the Party Secretary of the Red Girl"s Regiment. With his lead to the revolution, she joined the Red Girl"s Regiment and fought with Nan Batian. Finally, she wined in the struggle and replace Hong to be the secretary of the Red Girl"s Regiment after Hong died. This play use the ballet"s technology combined with Chinese dance to introduce a Chinese story. Sometimes, the ballet poses is easy to suit to portray characters and the narrative moments. There is a sense in The Red Girl"s Regiment about the slave girl running away from Nan. Dancer use the technological poses like the forty-five degree mid air pose with her two fists tightened in the air highlighted to show her hate for landlord and her desire to escape. This dance vocabulary reflects the struggle between classes and ballet techniques are used to emphasize it. Then, because of some political elements, the following art are not just art but the tool to persuade people. Two years after Red Girl"s Regiment, the Culture Revolution began in China. Mao, his extreme supporters and his wife Jiang Qing want to destroy old elements of Chinese culture and built a communist utopia. Affected by these political reasons, some performing arts like Red Girl"s Regiment were transformed into “revolutionary model plays”, which means arts should be simplified so that everybody can understand. Red Girl"s Regiments became the “model play” politicized ballet in that period of time. It served more than just its artistic purposes, helping to promote Marxist ideology and class struggle.
Giselle is one of the most excellent ballets in the world, as famous as Swan Lake. It tells a story of a peasant girl named Giselle who in order to protect her lover Wilis from a group of evil female spirits. Giselle was first presented by the Ballet du Thé?tre de l"Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on 28 June 1841. Dancer use dancing vocabulary to create a ultimate Romantic ballet, a tale of innocence, betrayal and the power of love. Cuban version of the ballet ‘Giselle" remain the romantic atmosphere but also add some other elements related to Cuban culture. Alicia Alonso is the greatest ballerina in Cuban, who is the first Cuban ballerina, became one of the most celebrated Gisells of the twentieth. She has devoted her all life into ballet career. It is her that led the Cuban ballerinas stand before people"s face and challenged the assumption that ballet belonged to Europeans. She believes that Latinos have their own specific feature. Actually, in Cuban, almost everybody likes dancing. Brilliance of movement, quickness and passion were characters represented to the world by Cuban dance like rumba and conga crazes. Ballet, slow and gentle, was contrary to the stereotype. However, Alonso shows everyone a very Latin Giselle, quick, clear, direct to her lover. She mixed the feature of Latin dance and the classic ballet. But she didn"t explain further more on its specific Latin or Curbaness.
To some extent, there are many similarities between Red Girl"s Regiment and Cuban version of Giselle; both the countries are not the original countries where the ballet develops. Innovation is the key in their ballet"s evolution, much more important than dance techniques. Their own culture have been mixed into classical ballet, but in Red Girl"s Regiment the Chinese culture takes a majority part, in Cuban version of Giselle, the distribution of Europe culture is equal to Cuban culture, because dancer are deeply desiring to achieve complete identification with European romantic and they are also influenced by their national identity at the same time. Alonso is the one who prove it. Her dance style contained the vagueness and ambiguity of Cuban elements. In contrast to the Cuban version of Giselle, Red Girl"s Regiment tells a totally new story, but the Cuban version of Giselle just uses the different tones to represent the same tale. Moreover Red Girl"s Regiment contains more political elements. It is to be used as tool in culture revolution to popularize Mao"s ideology. Cuban version of Giselle also has the political purpose, which is a chance to show the world the country Cuba. People never relate Cuba to ballet before Alonso"s effort.
Obviously, there are some similarities between the two ballets. Firstly, both Red Girl"s Regiment and the Cuban version of Giselle are affected by the traditional classical ballet. They can be regarded as the production of the cooperation between Europe dance vocabularies with domestic culture. It is argued that innovation is the key in their ballet"s evolution, much more important than dance techniques. Secondly, these two ballets have some political purpose, the former one was simplified into “model plays” and to be used to popularize Maxis ideology, the latter one can help Cuba leave a good expression on the world and promote Cuban culture. On the other hand, the distinction in both ballets still exists.
The Red Girl"s Regiment introduces a new story which is suited to Chinese environment but Cuban Giselle is just another version of Giselle. Next, Chinese culture take a big part in Red Girl"s Regiment but in Cuban version of Giselle the distribution of Cuban culture and Europe culture are equal to each other. In conclusion, in spite of the different representation, Ballet, which is a one form of performance dance, was performed in many countries and different countries use their own culture to understand and inform the art.
Reference
Tome, L. (2007). "Giselle" in a Cuban Accent. In M. Kant (Ed.), Ballet (pp. 263-271). ambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Zhang, Y. (2007). From "Swan Lake" to "Red Girl"s Regiment": Ballet Sinicisation. In M. Kant (Ed.), Ballet (pp. 256-262). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Shook, Karel (2004) Elements of Classical Ballet Technique : As Practiced in the School of the Dance Theatre of Harlem Publisher: Princeton Book Company Publishers
Wulff, Helena (1998)Ballet Across Borders : Career & Culture in the World of Dancers Publisher:
Berg Publishers Prest, Julia (2006) Theatre under Louis XIV : Cross-Casting and the Performance of Gender in Drama, Ballet, and Opera Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
余辉-
芭蕾起源于十五世纪的意大利文艺复兴时期，后来发展成为法国和俄罗斯的音乐会舞蹈 。 此后广泛流传。
Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques used in many other dance genres and cultures.
A ballet consists of the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets, such as the neoclassical works of American choreographer George Balanchine, often are performed in simple costumes (e.g., leotards and tights) and without the use of elaborate sets or scenery.
The famous ballet works are : The Nutcracker 胡桃夹子 . Swan Lake 天鹅湖 ，
A Midsummer"s Night Dream 仲夏夜之梦，Coppélia葛蓓莉亚，
The Sleeping Beauty 睡美人， Cinderella 灰姑娘 etc
gitcloud-
Ballet is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread, highly technical form of dance with its own vocabulary based on French terminology. It has been globally influential and has defined the foundational techniques
used in many other dance genres and cultures. Ballet has been taught in
various schools around the world, which have historically incorporated
their own cultures and as a result, the art has evolved in a number of
distinct ways. See glossary of ballet.
A ballet, a work, consists of the choreography and music for a ballet production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained ballet dancers. Traditional classical ballets are usually performed with classical music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas modern ballets, such as the neoclassical works of American choreographer George Balanchine, often are performed in simple costumes (e.g., leotards and tights) and without the use of elaborate sets or scenery.
小教板-
太专业了，我真不懂。