Project: New Cantonese dance drama on stage! The premiere of dance drama ‘Yingge’ is majestic and heroic!
Produced by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee, Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, and Guangzhou Cultural Development Group Co., Ltd., and created and performed by Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre, the large-scale ethnic dance drama ‘Yingge’ has been selected into the 2025 ‘Art Narrates’ Bay Area Performance Season. From February 21 to 23, it will be grandly staged at Shenzhen Bay Performing Arts Center. The play takes ‘Yingge’, the Chinese war dance, as the core and skillfully combines traditional Yingge dance, intangible cultural heritage elements and modern stage art techniques. It not only retains the original charm of Yingge dance but also endows it with a new sense of the times and aesthetic value. The audience can feel the unique charm of Oriental art in the appreciation and see the internal national spirit support of ‘Chaoshan culture’ and even ‘Chinese culture’. A fantasy journey shows the aspiration and integrity of overseas Chinese hometowns. The dance drama ‘Yingge’ uses many Chaoshan cultural elements represented by Yingge. ‘Yingge’, the Chinese war dance, runs through the whole play, carrying the aspiration and integrity of Chaoshan people who are fearless for the country and entrusting the national spirit that has been passed down for thousands of years. With the support of this spirit, Chaoshan people cross the seas. They step forward in times of war and are enterprising in times of peace. Also because of this spiritual connection, no matter how far they wander, they always have a longing for their hometown in their hearts. The distant longing turns into eternal homesickness that cannot be extinguished by waves or scattered by wind. In addition to Yingge, many cultural elements such as the coming-of-age ceremony ‘Chu Huayuan’ for boys and girls, the famous wood carving, Chaozhou embroidery, iron stick puppetry, Chaozhou embroidery, beef balls, and Chaozhou oiled paper lanterns are organically integrated into the plot, showing the rich and multi-faceted Chaoshan culture. These cultural elements transcend regions and connect the common Chinese civilization. In terms of the external manifestation form carrying the internal spirit, ‘Yingge’ takes an original approach. Through the story of contemporary youths ‘traveling through time and space’ because of Yingge sticks, it unveils the mysteries of the past. According to the playwright Luo Zhou, the play creates and transforms it into a unique Yingge world through the inner feelings of youths. This world is filled with intense emotions from the nation, clan, relatives, and lovers. The battlefield intertwined with blood and fire shows a sacred and solemn cultural atmosphere. It not only narrates history but also directly points to the Chinese spirit. Big names join in to help spread Yingge culture. During the creation and rehearsal period of the dance drama ‘Yingge’, it visited towns and villages in Chaoshan. Chen Laifa, the national intangible cultural heritage representative inheritor of Puning Yingge dance, Lin Bingguang, the national intangible cultural heritage representative inheritor of Jiazi Yingge dance, and Chaoyang Yingge Fenggang Yingge team were invited to conduct systematic training for the actors. The play is elaborately created by a first-class domestic creative team. Shi Qianjin serves as the artistic director. Qian Xin and Wang Sisi serve as the chief directors. Luo Zhou serves as the playwright. Xin Zhu, Liu Kedong, Ren Dongsheng, Yang Donglin, Liu Shuangchen, Wang Yan and other industry big names join in strongly. Wu Miao and Dong Wenjie serve as executive directors.Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre’s esteemed leading dancers Yilfan Wumaier, Pang Guanyu, and Leo, along with chief dancer Liang Qiqi, probationary chief Peng Jingjing, solo dancers Lu Jingyun and Li Yuzhi, star in the production, striving to create a new style of Yingge-themed work that perfectly interprets the essence and spirit of Chinese excellent traditional culture represented by Yingge. The chief director Qian Xin states that ‘Yingge’ conveys a belief: everything we do, every goal we strive for, can advance the culture and spirit of the Chinese nation. ‘The dance drama ‘Yingge’ integrates the real world into the virtual world of dreams; we hope to tell a story of life’s emotions through the combination of reality and imagination in an artistic way,’ says the artistic director Shi Qianjin. The play features both passionate scenes of heroic battles and Yingge group dances, showcasing the heroic and vigorous spirit of Yingge dance; and also delicate and touching duets and solos, depicting the emotional world of the characters, a perfect blend of strength and tenderness, captivating the audience. Chief director Wang Sisi hopes that the audience can empathize with the characters’ joys and sorrows, and through a certain image or description in the play, the audience can associate with their own experiences and feelings. Stage Art Reinvigorates Traditional Intangible Cultural Heritage Following the dance dramas ‘Awaken·Lion’ and ‘Dragon·Boat’, the creation and premiere of ‘Yingge’ is another vivid practice of inheriting and innovating intangible cultural heritage in modern society. Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre innovatively presents Chaozhou Yingge in dance drama form, retaining the core cultural elements and spiritual connotations of Yingge, and repackages and interprets it through modern stage art, meeting the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences. This allows the ancient Yingge to shine with new vitality in the new era, and enables Chaozhou culture and other excellent Chinese traditional cultures to be inherited, continued, and continuously expanded in the cultural waves of modern society. Zhang Yi, the dean of Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre and producer of the dance drama ‘Yingge’, says that literary and artistic works are the foundation of the troupe, and based on the concept of inheritance and innovation, inclusiveness, and development, we have been looking for a path to combine the excellent traditional Chinese culture with modern aesthetics. Let the works cross borders and go global. [Story Introduction] In the early 1940s, a Chaozhou father left his hometown for Southeast Asia and never returned. The mother raised her son with great hardship. When the son accidentally found the letters his father sent from abroad and the Yingge hammer, he traveled through a fantasy realm and witnessed his father’s unknown story of fighting the enemy. He finally understood his father’s great love and righteousness and realized the spirit of inheriting Yingge. In the end, the son brought his father’s letters back to the present, easing the mother’s endless longing for her husband.
In the dance drama “Yingge”, “Yingge”, as the “Chinese war dance”, runs through the whole play. It carries the aspiration of Chinese people to go forward bravely for the country even if there are thousands of people opposing. It also embodies the unyielding national spirit that has been passed down for thousands of years. Taking the excellent traditional intangible cultural heritage “Yingge” as the carrier and integrating many excellent intangible cultural elements, it shows the rich and multi-faceted Chinese culture. These cultural elements transcend regions and connect the common Chinese civilization. Produced by: Propaganda Department of CPC Guangzhou Municipal Committee, Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism, Guangzhou Cultural Development Group Co., Ltd. Created and performed by: Guangzhou Song and Dance Theatre Co., Ltd. Creative team: Artistic director: Shi Qianjin. Producer: Zhang Yi. Supervisors: Gao Wanjun, Chen Sheng, Liu Feitong, Zhang Ling. Chief director: Qian Xin, Wang Sisi. Screenwriter: Luo Zhou. Composer: Xin Zhu. Stage design: Liu Kedong. Lighting design: Ren Dongsheng. Costume design: Yang Donglin. Multimedia design: Liu Shuangchen. Modeling design: Wang Yan. Prop design: Lin Yinqian, Chen Xu. Executive directors: Wu Miao, Dong Wenjie. Directors: Pang Guanyu, Li Ao. Leading actors: Chen Wenyao: Pang Guanyu, Li Ao. Chen Xinyuan: Yilifan, Lu Jingyun, Li Yuzhi. Lin Qiao’er: Liang Qiqi, Peng Jingjing. Opening hours: From February 21st to February 23rd. The performance time and duration are subject to the on-site situation.
