"Clouds float like works of art, stars shoot with grief at heart, across the Milky Way the Cowherd meets the Maid; their tender love flows like a stream, this happy date seems but a dream, can they bear a separate homeward way?" On the afternoon of November 29th, the melodious sound of Kunqu Opera came from the YU Zhenfei Hall of the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe which seemed to be no different from the past. However, the performers on stage were not professional actors and actresses, but rather a group of students who were fond of Kunqu Opera. It was the day for students to present the performance of the "Palace of Eternal Youth" prepared at the current stage. The performance, prepared by Tongji University in cooperation with the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe, began with "Secret Oath" and "Sudden Change." Deputy Divisional Researcher of the Division of Physical, Health, and Arts Education of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission JIANG Pingfang, Tongji University Party Committee Deputy Secretary WU Guangming, Party Committee Secretary and Shanghai Center of Chinese Operas President and Shanghai Kunqu Troupe Head GU Haohao, and Kunqu Opera Artists CAI Zhengren and ZHANG Jingxian came to watch the performance.
The photo session of the cast with university leaders and guests
The youthful faces on stage were either happy or angry with their changes in mood and their melodious chanting lingering on stage. They were immersed completely in the poignant and touching love story of Emperor Ming of Tang and his concubine Yang Guifei in the "Palace of Eternal Youth." Six months ago, they entered the recruiting process for this program with thier dream and pursuit of knowledge. The students came from Tongji University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Communication University of China, Nanjing Normal University, NYU Shanghai, University of Edinburgh, and other universities at home and abroad.
Performance highlights
Since the recruitment process started on July 10th of this year, lucky "insects" (kunqu lovers) on campus have applied to, auditioned for, and been carefully selected by veteran artists and senior experts. From around the world, they gathered at the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe located at No. 9 Shaoxing Road. While completing their own rehearsal tasks, the young performers of Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe spent thier spare time accompanying the students during their practice and teaching them step by step. In return, they also witnessed their progress. After more than a month's intensive training during the summer vacation, the student version of the " Palace of Eternal Youth" training camp conducted a public performance as a report of the summer training. Based on the performance, the teachers from the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe began to teach students how to perform their specific role types according to their characteristics.
Audition, teaching and rehearsal process
The most promising "Emperor Ming of Tang" and "Yang Guifei," as well as other important roles, were selected and taught in small classes by young artists from the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe. Nearly ten excellent young performers (NI Xuhao, ZHANG Li, TAN Xuya, YAO Xuyi, WEI Li, YUAN Jia, WANG Jinyu, and ZHANG Ting) and directors including SHEN kuang formed a basic training group, a rehearsal group, and a stage director group. They taught the students during their rehearsal for 80 hours each week. They started from different role types that included sheng (male role), dan (female role), jing (painted face), mo (older male role), and chou (clown). The roles given to the students were portrayed in detail in terms of singing, speaking, action, and overall performance according to their characteristics. The "Emperor Ming of Tang" and "Yang Guifei" were created according to the stage norms, without losing their youthful personality. In order to get the students into the mood as soon as possible, the teachers spent all their spare time with the students in the practice room, conducting overall demonstrations to scene-by-scene practice. The young performers, directors, and technical directors coordinated with each other during their busy schedules just to polish a "Palace of Eternal Youth" that belonged to the students themselves.
The "Secret Oath" and "Sudden Change" performed represented the culmination of the relationship between Emperor Ming of Tang and Yang Guifei in the "Palace of Eternal Youth," in which they made a promise to live together as husband and wife and never leave each other. The beautiful vision was mixed with the tragic narration, which tested the students' history knowlege, understanding of the text, and their performance after the rehearsal and training in the Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe for the past three months.
Source:https://news.tongji.edu.cn/info/1002/75885.htm
