What needs to be pointed out here is that dance comes from life and is the art of the people. The essence of dance determines its popularity, so dance creation is not a mysterious kingdom. As long as you master the basic methods of dance creation, master the correct way of creation, and firmly grasp the fundamentals of dance artistic expression, many good works will emerge from your hands in constant summary and practice.
I will ramble on some questions about dance creation from the premise, basic techniques, similarities and differences with square dance creation and some problems in children's dance creation, hoping to contribute a little to the prosperity of dance creation.
Let's talk about the premise of dance creation.
To create a good dance work, there must be a correct method. The premise is that the creator must have a high professional quality, which is gradually formed by unremitting practice and accumulation. To sum up, we must first start from the following aspects.
(a) observation of life, familiar with life.
Life is the source of artistic creation, and both dance works and dance images come from life. Only by carefully observing life in daily work and life, gradually accumulating a large number of materials from life, scientifically analyzing, understanding and familiarizing these materials, screening out typical and symbolic "materials" from them, and having real personal experience and practical feelings, can dance creators create successful works that touch people's hearts.
For example, Sun of Zhejiang said in the process of her creation of Beekeeping Chickens: On the surface, the work of beekeeping lacks the dynamics required by dance creation, that is, it is difficult to establish a good dance image. But from the point of view that dancing is good at expressing emotion, we find that bees, a magical little insect, are hardworking, tenacious and brave, creating wealth and bringing sweetness to mankind. Beekeepers, on the other hand, run around all the year round, tracking the source of honey, and their work is hard and ordinary. The work of beekeepers and the spirit of bees deserve our praise. But how to express it by dancing? After careful observation, it is found that beekeepers and bees have an unusual honey-loving relationship, which enables us to see their "dynamic" inner world in their "static" labor. Their happy, sweet and happy inner world is just suitable for dancing. The specific method is to turn thoughts and emotions into "dynamic" images that the audience can see. This image is the expression and sublimation of emotions, and it is by no means imitating the external form of their labor, but always grasping and expressing the "feelings" of beekeepers.
A work of art has no expressive force without exaggeration, and exaggeration must have rich association-imagination. It is related to the bee's head, body and hands covered with honey, which causes bees to chase and play with people, thus reflecting the emotional communication between bees. The "rhythm factor" in the happy labor formed by this kind of communication endows dance with "form" and "emotion", and produces the image basis of dance. In addition, the clever use of props highlights the cute personality characteristics of beekeeping chicks. Let the beekeeper impress the audience.
The beauty of life is not equal to the beauty of art. Creators should highly concentrate and sublimate all kinds of beautiful things in life, be as good at absorbing the sweetest nutrition in life as bees suck nectar, and make a high artistic summary, so as to make it a vivid and moving dance image and give the audience a beautiful enjoyment and edification.
(2) Dance works should praise lofty character and be full of the spirit of the times.
Any work of art serves the era in which it lives. If you can't keep up with the times, you can't stand on your feet and lose your survival value. A large number of folk dances can be circulated in China for a long time. The most fundamental reason is that they can adapt to the people's ever-changing aesthetic pursuit, keep pace with the times and constantly improve themselves in order to survive. The reason why many classic dance works are enduring is that the theme they show captures the pursuit of beautiful things by human beings and reaches an idealized height in the content and form of the works. At present, we advocate the promotion of national culture and emphasize that literary and artistic works should reflect the main line of the times. Promoting national culture refers to the excellent cultural heritage handed down by our nation for thousands of years. These cultural heritages are the essence of our nation, and they contain the spiritual qualities of pioneering, innovative, responsible and selfless dedication. Literary and art workers, as creators of works, should educate and inspire people with a large number of works of art containing the lofty spiritual character of the nation and improve the cultural level and spiritual quality of the whole nation.
What we call "the spirit of the times" should be a progressive, inspiring and inspiring spirit. This kind of spirit can make people produce infinite strength, stimulate people's creativity, make people deeply feel the natural beauty of life, and thus be full of hope for life. "The spirit of the times" is not the so-called "fashion" pursued by some people. Any fashion has its own attributes, some represent the development trend of things, while others show a decadent and backward concept. In some current creative works, there are indeed some people who pursue "fashion" that deviates from the times and is far away from life. The authors integrate their narrow and depressed life ideas into their works, showing their spirit and inner world that is extremely out of step with the times. This is something we should resolutely abandon. Some authors emphasize the so-called theater effect and economic benefits in order to be unconventional and cater to the needs of some low-level tastes in the market. Distorted some excellent folk dances that can reflect the unique charm of some ethnic minorities in China,
Some dances, which can best represent the implicit beauty of the East, forcibly enter the West by kicking the buttocks, abdomen and chest. It is believed that only in this way can we be "sexy", fascinate the audience and stimulate the audience. No matter how the society evaluates it, it is only this kind of creative thought that ignores the aesthetic feeling of our nation, ignores or downplays the unique oriental beauty of our nation and is praised by the international community. We should also criticize it.
A large number of good works can enlighten people, enlighten people and enjoy beauty, make people realize the beauty of a spiritual sentiment from the enjoyment of artistic beauty, and make people have a deep love for life and society, which plays a very good role in the education of literary and artistic works.
For example, in The Sparkling Red Star, Dongzi's mother died heroically and stood bravely in the fire. Shocking music melody, full of red lights; Overlapping Pan Dongzi's silent "Mom!" The conformity with the concept and the great impact have shocked people's hearts and aroused their strong spirit.
Another example is "Spring Silkworm". According to Li Shangyin's famous sentence in the Tang Dynasty, "Spring silkworm dies, wax torch turns to dust, tears flow dry", which reflects the dedication of spring silkworm and wax torch. The director focuses on shaping and embodying the spiritual beauty of spring silkworm and highlighting its character of benefiting mankind. In the use of artistic means, a huge transparent mulberry leaf is designed, and behind the leaf is a "spring silkworm" (actor) full of curvy beauty. Through the graceful movements of the actors' arms and the ethereal gauze towels in their hands, the process of spinning silk for self-restraint is displayed, and the artistic conception of "silk loves the same" is displayed, which gives the audience the profound ideological connotation that Chunsi will die without regret. This work shows spring silkworm, which is actually a praise and encouragement to dedication.
Another example is the dance "Dunhuang Painted Sculptures", which does not directly praise heroes or some lofty ideas. Instead, it draws lessons from the "flying sky" in Dunhuang grottoes and shapes a group of girls' dance images. The author grasps the most touching aspects of female beauty-gentleness, modesty, euphemism and serenity, and depicts a vivid and moving image of oriental girls, which makes people unforgettable. The work has achieved two purposes: first, through the posture, movement and modeling of the dance and the music in harmony with the artistic conception of the dance, it creates beautiful lighting in a specific atmosphere, reflecting Wei's splendid history and culture and exquisite sculpture art in the motherland and inspiring people's patriotic feelings; One is to show the unique charm of female beauty through beautiful dance, give people the enjoyment of beauty and arouse people's love for life.
The above examples show that although dance works have created artistic images with different themes and different forms of expression, the character of these works is lofty and healthy. They reflect life in different ways and from different angles, enlightening and edifying people with beauty. Therefore, it conforms to the spirit of the times and can serve the times well.
(three) familiar with the accumulation of professional materials, and comprehensively improve professional quality.
1。 See more and learn more dance vocabulary.
Dance vocabulary (action) can only be enriched by accumulation, and only by considerable accumulation can it be easily obtained in creation. Only by understanding the movements clearly can we find out the laws of their movement changes and further develop these movements.
In addition, it analyzes the labor or other habitual actions observed in daily life, and analyzes their types, action rules, action rhythms, etc. Be understood, and select its typical and representative to beautify and refine it, making it a brilliant dance image. For example, in the creation of Langli Man, the author went deep into fishermen and observed their work and life, such as weaving nets, pulling nets, setting up tents, boating, etc. Fishermen are used to standing with their legs apart, and their walking steps are steady and powerful; Fighting the wind and waves formed their brave, generous, simple and honest, straightforward personality characteristics. The author typifies these materials and creates vivid and full dance images.
2。 A comprehensive study of various art categories.
Dance is a comprehensive art that focuses on human movements. Therefore, to create a dance, we should not only skillfully use human movements, but also contribute to the theme, characters, plot development and climax of the work through other artistic means.
(1) First of all, the creator should have a strong sense of music. Musical sense refers to the understanding of music. Not only in theory, but also in the expression of emotion and musical image by music. For example, a dancer and a painter listen to a famous song at the same time, and their understanding of music will be different. What appears in the painter's mind is the picture, composition, layout, and the contrast of various colors and light and shade. Dancers will constantly jump and rotate according to the ups and downs of melody, the speed of rhythm, the strength of voice and the strength of ideas, sometimes violently tumbling, and sometimes stretching euphemistic action images. Although they have different understandings, they are all appreciators with a strong sense of music.
(2) Learn the basic knowledge of composition and picture.
Dance composition is very important in works. A good composition can inspire people and make them feel endless changes and rich connotations. Plain, unchanging composition pictures will make people feel dull and uninspired. The Little Birch Tree by the Russian Little Birch Song and Dance Troupe, although simple in action, depicts a profound artistic conception with endless aftertaste and charm with a winding team shape. At the opening ceremony of Chongqing Dragon Lantern Art Festival, the dance part "China People" only relied on the formation of the Great Wall in Wan Li, the interlacing of four blocks, the rapid insertion and the combination of words, which reflected the cohesion and great momentum of the Chinese nation and gave people a strong shock.
(3) Understand and learn the basic knowledge of lighting and clothing, so as to comprehensively consider and use it when creating.
Making good use of the change of stage lighting can deepen the theme of the work, render a strong atmosphere and bring the audience into a specific scene. The use of backlight, top light and side light in Spring Silkworm vividly shapes a beautiful and glittering silkworm body. "Goodbye, Mom" creates a hazy dreamy picture of mother and son meeting through special lighting effects. These artistic means of skillfully using lighting are solved by lighting engineers according to the director's creativity and design requirements.
Of course, the design of dance costumes is the work of designers, but the choreographer should put forward design requirements for costumes. This requirement should generally consider two points: first, it helps to point out the topic, and you can understand what theme you want to express by looking at the style and color of the clothing; Second, clothing should reflect the identity and personality characteristics of the characters. In addition, costume design should fully consider the body art in dance. Dance is to "speak" with body and limbs and express certain contents. Clothing design is unqualified and does not meet the requirements of the work, which not only fails to express the content of the work, but even destroys the expected effect. Good dance costumes will give the audience vivid characters and achieve unexpected artistic effects. For example, the color-changing long skirt in the "Opening Ceremony of the Universiade" became yellow, red and green to express different connotations; The "flying music" costume in Silk Road Rain vividly depicts the image of "flying" in Dunhuang murals.
(4) The director should fully cultivate his imagination (association and fantasy) and make the dance romantic and lyrical, which is an extremely important aspect of the work that touches people's hearts and infects the audience.
Imagination is a common technique in literary works. Wonderful imagination is like a magic wand in a fairy tale. There will be strange changes when you get there. Young, an English poet, said, "An original writer's pen, like Amitabha's wand, can evoke brilliant spring from the desert." If dance is to be original, imagination is an important factor to achieve this goal. The meaning of dance "water" is actually full of imagination. Feel the flow of water from the swing of the girl's hair and see through the beauty of the girl from the flow of water; The sparrow spirit depicts the peacock's elegant, dignified and noble manners through the modeling of arms and fingertips. How the water of the Yellow River moves to the sky, the prelude to the opening ceremony of college students, through the huge scene of four symbolic dragons winding, rolling and soaring, symbolizes the broad mind and infinite strength of the Chinese nation, as well as the momentum of the descendants of dragons rising and taking off. There are also works that lack imagination, and no matter how good the theme is, it can't achieve the ideal effect. For example, children dance's Tiger Pillow is intended to show the long and splendid Chinese folk customs and children's innocent and lively childlike interest. However, the imagination of the work is not rich enough, the plot is dull and there is no bright spot. If you make the tiger pillow bigger and more humane, and add a "pillow" to communicate with people, the effect will be very different.