芭蕾舞《红色娘子军》跳到了纽约

National Ballet of China Conveys Its History at Lincoln Center Festival
芭蕾舞《红色娘子军》跳到了纽约

“Our aim in the cultural sphere is to build a new Chinese national culture,” Mao wrote in 1940, more than two decades before the start of the Cultural Revolution. Since then, China has undergone a series of profound cultural shifts, many of which Mao could never have predicted. Change has come to every sphere, including ballet, a relatively recent import that has nonetheless played a role in the country’s re-evaluation of its performance traditions and aesthetic ideals. New Yorkers will have the chance to view part of that trajectory next week when the National Ballet of China comes to the Koch Theater as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Later the company will travel to Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va., and Saratoga, N.Y.

“建立中华民族的新文化，这就是我们在文化领域内的目的，”1940年，毛泽东写道，这是“文化大革命”爆发20多年前的事。自那以后，中国在文化上经历了一系列深刻的变迁，许多都是毛始料未及的。变化发生在方方面面，其中也包括芭蕾，一个相对较为近期的舶来品，却在这个国家重估其表演艺术传统与美学理念的过程中发挥了作用。如今纽约人也有机会亲睹这个发展历程的一部分了――下个星期，中央芭蕾舞团即将亮相林肯中心艺术节，在寇克剧场(Koch Theater)演出，之后还将到弗吉尼亚州维也纳的沃尔夫特拉普(Wolf Trap)与纽约州的萨拉托加(Saratoga)演出。

The company, which was last in New York in 2005, is performing two ballets: “The Red Detachment of Women,” now half a century old, and “Peony Pavilion“ (2008). “Red Detachment,” one of the works most closely associated with the Cultural Revolution, has been danced thousands of times, in China and abroad. (President Nixon was treated to a performance during his historic 1972 visit, a scene spoofed in John Adams’s opera “Nixon in China.”)

该剧团上一次来到纽约是在2005年，这一次，它带来两部剧目：拥有50年历史的《红色娘子军》和《牡丹亭》(2008)。《红色娘子军》是和“文化大革命”关系最密切的作品之一，已在中国和海外被演出过成千上万次。尼克松总统1972年做历史性的访华时便曾受邀看过这部芭蕾，作曲家约翰・亚当斯(John Adams)曾在歌剧《尼克松在中国》(Nixon in China)中讽刺过这一幕。

“Peony Pavilion,” by contrast, is a sophisticated hybrid. It looks back to the theatrical traditions of Chinese opera (and to the European modernism of Debussy and Ravel), while also reflecting recent trends in stage design. As its choreographer, Fei Bo, wrote in an email exchange through a translator: “Our goal is to bring new life to the classics” ― the great stories of China’s literary past ― “using the language of our time. We combined ballet and traditional operas and bring new life to this ancient art form.”

相反，《牡丹亭》则是一种复杂深刻的杂交。它追溯中国戏曲传统，以及欧洲现代主义中的德彪西与拉威尔，同时反映了最新的舞台设计趋势。《牡丹亭》是中国古代文学史上最伟大的故事之一，编舞费波通过翻译接受了电子邮件采访，他写道：“我们的目标是使用我们时代的语言，为经典带来新的生命。我们将芭蕾和传统戏曲结合起来，让古老的艺术形式焕发新生。”

The history of ballet in China dates from the years after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, when Russian émigrés, including former dancers, settled in a handful of cities. Their students were mostly foreigners and children of the Chinese elite and included the young Margot Fonteyn, whose father worked for a tobacco exporter in Shanghai. After the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, an official national school modeled on the Russian training system was founded in 1954. Five years later a company was formed. Soviet instructors trained Chinese dancers and helped to establish the repertory, which consisted of the usual classics ― “Swan Lake,” “Giselle,” “Le Corsaire.”

芭蕾舞在中国的历史可以追溯到1917年布尔什维克革命后的几年，俄罗斯移民到中国的若干城市定居，其中就有一些芭蕾舞者。他们的学生大部分是外国人，以及中国精英阶层的孩子，其中就有年轻的玛格・芳廷(Margot Fonteyn)，她的父亲在上海为一家烟草出口商工作。1949年，中华人民共和国成立，1954年，官方开设了一家国家芭蕾舞学校，模仿俄罗斯的培训体系。五年后，成立了一家芭蕾舞团。苏联教师培训练中国舞者，也帮他们创立了整套剧目，其中包括最常见的经典：《天鹅湖》(Swan Lake)、《吉赛尔》(Giselle)和《海盗》(Le Corsaire)。

There were a few early attempts to create Chinese dance-dramas using the language of ballet. These were not always successful. “Dove of Peace,” in 1950, for example, was “heavily criticized, in part for the exposure of the legs, which was considered unacceptable to the public,” Emily Wilcox, a professor of Chinese studies at the University of Michigan, explained in an interview via Skype. (In “Red Detachment” the women wear military-style shorts covering the thighs.) Then, in the early ’60s, as a consequence of a parting of ways between China and the Soviet Union, the Russians left. Chinese ballet was faced with the need to forge an identity of its own.

剧团早期曾经尝试过使用芭蕾舞的语言编写中国舞剧，但并不总能成功。比如1950年的《和平鸽》“曾经遭到严厉批评，部分是因为露出大腿，这被认为是公众不能接受的，”密歇根大学中国研究教授魏美玲(Emily Wilcox)在通过Skype接受采访时说（在《红色娘子军》中，女人们都穿着军服式的短裤，遮盖住了大腿）。60年代初，中苏关系交恶，俄罗斯人离开了。中国芭蕾舞面临着塑造自己身份的问题。

The result was “The Red Detachment of Women,” a ballet about an oppressed young farmworker who joins a women’s unit of Communist fighters to defeat a local tyrant. To learn how to handle the weapons convincingly, the original cast underwent military training. The ballet was hailed by Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, as one of eight “model dramas” ― including only two ballets ― worthy of wide distribution. Its story of liberation and just revenge is easily understood, as is its language of heroic arabesques, valiant leaps and clenched fists.

其结果就是《红色娘子军》，这部芭蕾舞剧讲述了一位受压迫的年轻农工的故事，她参加了共产党的一支女战士部队，打倒当地恶霸。为了学习怎样正确地拿武器，最早的演员们接受了军训。这部芭蕾舞受到毛的妻子江青赞美，被列为八部值得广泛传播的“样板戏”之一（其中仅包括两部芭蕾剧）。这个关于解放与正义复仇的故事浅显易懂，并使用了英雄主义的阿拉贝斯克舞姿、勇士跳与紧握拳头等芭蕾语汇，这也不难理解。

In China, “even people who say they don’t know ballet know ‘The Red Detachment,’ ” Alissa Elegant, a Fulbright scholar studying contemporary dance trends in the country, said during a recent call from Beijing. It regularly plays to sold-out houses. People of a certain generation can still hum its revolutionary melodies. Uncle Yao’s Chorus, the Queens, N.Y., ensemble that will accompany performances in New York, has members who sang at its premiere. (The company is traveling with its own orchestra.)

在中国，“就算不知道芭蕾的人也知道《红色娘子军》，”在中国研究该国当代舞发展的富布莱特学者艾莉莎・伊莱格特(Alissa Elegant)近期在北京接受电话采访时说。它经常上演，每每座无虚席。某一代人仍然能够哼出剧中革命主义的旋律。纽约皇后区的“姚大叔合唱团”将为纽约的演出伴唱，合唱团中有当年曾在该剧首演中献唱的歌手（中央芭蕾舞团在巡演期间将携带自己的管弦乐团）。

The company’s artistic director, Feng Ying, communicating through a translator, wrote that today, “some dancers feel funny when they dance this ballet for the first time” because they are so far removed from the context in which it was created. Since the 1980s, the doors to the larger dance world have opened, allowing the introduction of a steady stream of new works and guest teachers in China. The National Ballet now performs works by William Forsythe, Roland Petit and John Neumeier.

中央芭蕾舞团的艺术总监冯英通过翻译在今天写道：“有些舞蹈者第一次跳这个舞剧时又觉得很好玩，”因为他们已经同剧本创作时的环境相隔甚远。自从上世纪80年代，中国开始同国外舞蹈界更广泛地接触，从而稳定引进了大批新作品和客座教师。中央芭蕾舞团现在亦上演威廉・弗希斯(William Forsythe)、罗兰・佩蒂(Roland Petit)和约翰・纽迈耶(John Neumeier)等人的作品。

Nevertheless, said Ms. Wilcox, “ballet remains viewed largely as a foreign art in China.” In an attempt to widen its appeal, choreographers have increasingly turned to Chinese themes, and “Peony Pavilion” is a prime example. Its story is drawn from a well-known 16th-century opera about a first love so passionate that it transcends the boundary between reality and dreams and between life and death.

不过，魏美玲说，“在中国，芭蕾很大程度上仍被视为外国艺术。”为了增加它的吸引力，编剧们开始更多求助于中国题材，《牡丹亭》便是一个好例子。它的故事来自16世纪著名戏曲，讲述一段充满激情的初恋故事，超越了现实与梦境、生与死的界限。

The ballet was created by a team led by Mr. Fei, now 35, whose training is primarily in contemporary dance. The opera unfolds over 20 hours; for the ballet, the story has been condensed to two, its plot distilled to near-abstraction. At its heart lies a tale of erotic awakening infused with a subtle but pronounced sensuality. “The whole premise is that a young woman is going into a part of the garden that she shouldn’t go into ― the garden is obviously a metaphor,” Nigel Redden, director of Lincoln Center Festival, said recently.

这部芭蕾舞剧由现年35岁的费波领导的一个小组创作，费波早期接受的是现代舞训练。戏曲长达20小时；芭蕾舞剧浓缩到两个小时，情节被浓缩到接近抽象。其核心是一个性觉醒的故事，混合了微妙而又明显的性欲气息。“全剧的前提是一个年轻女人来到一座她本不应当进入的花园――花园显然是个隐喻，”林肯中心艺术节总监奈格尔・瑞登(Nigel Redden)近期说。

In the choreography, the ballerina’s foot is a source of erotic fascination. “In China, women’s feet are very special and have strong sexual implications,” Mr. Fei explained in an email. “We combine this idea with the unique beauty of ballet on pointe.” The dancing, for both men and women, is willowy and elegant and extremely stylized, with few hard edges or strong accents.

在编舞方面，女演员的脚是性魅力的重要来源。“在中国，女人的脚非常特殊，有强烈的性暗示，”费波在电子邮件中解释，“我们把这个观念和芭蕾中足尖姿势特殊的美结合起来。”男女演员的舞蹈都纤细优美，极为程式化，几乎没有棱角和强硬的东西。

The score, by Guo Wenjing, is an intriguing collage woven out of snippets of Ravel, Respighi and Holst. A theme from Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” ― another tale of sexual awakening ― returns insistently. To this mix the composer has added melodies in the style of Kunqu opera, performed by an onstage singer in traditional costume.

配乐由郭文景创作，是精彩的拼贴，融合了拉威尔(Ravel)、雷斯庇基(Respighi)与霍尔斯特(Holst)的片段，一段来自德彪西(Debussy)的《牧神的午后》(Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun)的主题――也是一个与性觉醒有关的故事――非常动人。作曲家将昆曲的风格融入旋律，由身穿传统服装的歌手现场演唱。

The spare set, consisting mainly of a square platform that rises and falls, bathed in dreamlike lighting, was conceived by the German designer Michael Simon, a frequent collaborator of Mr. Forsythe and Jiri Kylian. The exquisite costumes, inspired by traditional Chinese dress, are by Emi Wada, who created the wardrobe for the popular film “The House of Flying Daggers.”

舞台主要是由一个方形的可升降平台组成，沐浴在梦幻般的灯光里，是由德国设计师迈克尔・西蒙(Michael Simon)设计，他经常与弗希斯和尤里・基里安(Jiri Kylian)合作。精美的服装受传统中国服饰启发，由和田惠美(Emi Wada)设计，她曾为热门电影《十面埋伏》设计服装。

The result is a work that is deeply Chinese ― it’s hard to imagine its being performed by any other company ― but that also reflects the look and feel of European contemporary ballet. “We choose Chinese stories to express our feelings to the world” while also busily absorbing the latest ballet trends from abroad, Ms. Feng wrote. It may not yet be possible to define a Chinese style of ballet, but one thing is certain: the company has come a long way since “The Red Detachment of Women.”

最后的作品是一部极具中国色彩，几乎难以想象被其他舞团搬上舞台的作品，但也同样体现了欧洲现代芭蕾舞的风貌和感觉。“我们选择中国故事，来向世界表达我们的感情”，同时不断了解海外最新的芭蕾舞趋势，冯英写道。现在说中国风格的芭蕾舞已经树立，或许还为时过早，但有一件事是肯定的，自从《红色娘子军》之后，中央芭蕾舞团走过了漫长的道路。