Chapter 37 Section 9 Acrobatic Art in Opera

Chinese opera and acrobatics belonged to the same source in ancient times. In the early Han Dynasty, they were collectively called Baixi, and they were mostly recorded in "Yuezhi" or "Liyuezhi" in old documents.According to the fourth volume of Ge Hong's "Xijing Miscellaneous Notes" in the Jin Dynasty, there was an ancient student in Chang'an, the capital of the capital. ", he has been a "capital history" for more than 40 years, and was finally dismissed by his boss on the charge of being joking (not serious).But the people in Chang'an City liked him very much and missed him, and they still call Haixi Opera "Gu Cao".

The art of acrobatics entered opera and became an important part of opera performing arts, starting from the Song and Yuan dramas and Yuan Zaju, and was further developed in the legends and Zaju of the Ming Dynasty, and basically finalized.According to Gu Qiyuan of the Ming Dynasty's "Guest Zuoyu", when performing operas during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, some acrobatics such as tricks, jujitsu, and banner dancing were often inserted.This traditional habit has been extended from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, especially in the performing arts of Peking Opera in the Qing Dynasty, which brought the combination of different arts to an unprecedented peak, and most of the skills have been passed down and developed, which still amazes today's audience .In the Peking Opera "Sanchakou", there is almost no singing, except for the very simple dialogues and monologues of the characters. The main actors in the play, Ren Tanghui and Liu Lihua, fight in the dark in the store, combining martial arts, acrobatics and burlesque performances. Especially the "unique skills" in acrobatics are fascinating, and they are still appreciated by Chinese and foreign audiences.The performances of "eating fire" and "breathing fire" in Peking Opera "Stealing the Chicken" and "Zhong Kui's Marriage" were inherited and developed from the "firework box" of the people of the Song Dynasty, and are relatively pure acrobatics.On the way to Liangshanbo, Shi Qian stole the chicken in the middle of the night. He rolled the paper into a tube, lit it and stuffed it into his mouth, which symbolized that he was eating roast chicken, and sparks would come out of his mouth from time to time while eating.When Zhong Kui led all the ghost soldiers on patrol at night, in addition to performing various expressions, he also spewed fire from his mouth.According to people in the drama industry, there are two ways to breathe fire: one is to hold a controllable fire-breathing canister in the mouth, and the other is to hold a layer of tissue paper in the mouth, which is wrapped with rosin powder. Pawns or other people held real torches to meet them, and the rosin powder would burn as soon as it met the fire. Looking from a distance from the audience, it looked like a fire was spewing from the mouth.In the Peking Opera "Li Huiniang" and the Sichuan Opera "The Legend of the White Snake" that have been staged in Beijing in recent years, there are fire-breathing zaju content.In the Sichuan Opera "The Legend of the White Snake", there is also the god general Wei Tuo performing acrobatics by kicking away the eyes of the gods on his forehead. In addition, the gods will dance flags, dance circles, use guns, and change faces, etc., which also belong to the category of acrobatics.In Peking Opera "Sizhou City" and "Iron Bow Fate", acrobatics are mixed with stylized martial arts, giving people a fresh feeling.In the Peking Opera "Money Leopard", the leopard leopard plays with double forks, swings, catches and dances forks, and combines martial arts, jujitsu and acrobatics.The Peking Opera "Hongniguan" is a story about the Wagang hero Wang Bodang recruiting his relatives.When the little girl came out, she was holding the rotating tray with her fingers and holding a cup in her mouth.She stepped on the stage with gongs and drums to complete the scene, and followed the drum board to set the tone, stopped the plate and dropped the cup, and presented it in front of the case. It was a pure acrobatic performance.Kunqu opera "Mountain Qianyuan" is a story about Nezha and Empress Shiji who have feuded against each other.Nezha dances the circle of heaven and earth, with a combination of rigidity and softness, and his movements are very delicate.In Kunqu Opera, Peking Opera, and local operas, the actors dance hat wings, play feathers, dance weapons, dance banners, kick guns, somersaults, etc., all of which absorb and transform acrobatic art.Sometimes the ancient color tricks are directly integrated into the opera, such as the characters in the play present empty-handed and grab flowers, cups, plates and other small props to make the audience novel and refreshed.

In short, these acrobatic performances in operas can often give the audience a healthy, thrilling, bright and novel aesthetic experience, and produce better artistic effects.Some opera actors, because they can inherit and develop the art of acrobatics in their own performing arts, and have created several "unique skills" that are "popular", have become famous in the theater circle.Therefore, there has always been a famous saying in the theater circle: "If there is drama, there must be skill." The "skill" people call is inseparable from the art of acrobatics.